At the beginning of a creepy day, Italy and the Milanese financial center finally see some light again. The intervention on the market by the ECB which, after the go-ahead from France and above all Germany, decided to buy Spanish BTPs and Bonos gave relief to our government bonds: the spread between Btp and Bund, which hovered around 400 basis points last week, dropped to 330 basis points at market opening.
The Stock Exchange is doing well too. Piazza Affari had opened slightly down but immediately rebounded and, half an hour after its start, gained over 2%. In the foreground the increases of Unicredit but also of Fiat and Generali. Particular attention was paid to the Trieste-based company in relation to the expected meeting between its group CEO Giovanni Perissinotto and the president of the second Russian bank Vtb, Andrej Kostin, to define the key points of the industrial plan of the joint venture being set up.
However, the day remains very uncertain. After the leap in the early hours, Piazza Affari fell around parity. The concern can be seen not only in the bad closure of the Asian stock exchanges (all down between 2 and 3%) but also in the performance of the European markets which have a contrasting trend and remain very volatile. It is significant that, in addition to Piazza Affari, the Stock Exchange that is performing better is the Spanish one (where the weight of the ECB is felt).
But the great unknown is America, after the historic and disputed downgrade of US debt by S&P.
