Mixed closure for the European lists, mostly inclined to increase the New Year's rally while Wall Street, after updating its highs at the start and making us think of new fireworks, is slowing down. However, Apple (+0,45%) exceeded the 2.350 billion dollar capitalization mark. US fiscal stimulus, soft Brexit and anti-Covid vaccinations are still driving the risk, which give hope for a return to normality and a rapid recovery of the economy.
Piazza Affari is down slightly, -0,13%, 22.259 basis points, at the end of a session with volumes at a flicker in view of the closure for the long end-of-year bridge. However, Atlantia +2,54% is appreciated, which is the best blue chip today, after having yesterday rejected the offer of Cdp Equity, Blackstone and Macquarie for ASPI as insufficient. In any case, negotiations continue and the board of directors has accepted an extension of the due diligence until the end of January. Good Campari +1,92%: Moncler +1,15%; Ferrari +1,07%; Leonard +0,98%. Sales on oil stocks (Tenaris -1,35%) and profit taking on the automotive sector (Pirelli -1,22%; Cnh -0,9%).
The Fincantieri route is holding up quite well, -0,64%, despite the purchase of the Saint Nazaires shipyards risking definitive cancellation. According to the agreements with France, writes AFP, the sale of Stx must be concluded by December 31st but the Italian group has not submitted all the requested information to the EU Antitrust, which is conducting a strict investigation. Without answers by Thursday or in the absence of a new extension, the operation will be skipped. The Italian company points out: “We believe we have done everything possible. For our part it is not possible to do more”.
The Italian secondary closes in red. The spread with the German 109-year bond rises to 1,88 points (+0,52%) and the BTP rate rises to +6,5%. However, a new all-time low has been recorded for the yield on six-monthly Treasury bills. In today's placement, 6 billion 30-month bonds maturing on 06/2021/0,520 were issued, achieving a yield of -0,518% (-11,111% the yield in last month's auction). Demand was sustained, standing at 1,71 billion euros, with a supply-demand ratio of XNUMX.
Returning to the stock market: the queen of Europe is London, +1,52%, closed yesterday for public holidays and therefore dusted off a day late due to the soft Brexit. Yet it is difficult to predict what will happen to the stock exchanges in the first part of the year, given that the trade agreements with the EU have not taken the sector into consideration. “Which means – writes Rueters – that automatic access to the financial markets of the European Union will end on December 31st. The following days will provide an early insight into the effects of the change and regulators on both sides of the Channel will be on high alert for any market fluctuations on 4 January, the first trading day of the new year.
The EU wants to reduce dependence on the City for financial services and see more euro exchanges in Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and other financial centers on the bloc. This will split European equity, bond and derivatives markets into two separate trading groups, raising fears of less competitive pricing for investors. European banks will have to trade euro securities within the bloc from January 4 and will be forced to switch to European hubs that have opened in Amsterdam or Paris from platforms operated by Cboe Europe, Aquis Exchange, the London Stock Exchange's Turquoise and Goldman Sachs in London. Most stocks are still traded domestically, but the London platforms together account for nearly all cross-border stock trading in the remaining 27 EU states. Overall, in October, this amounted to €8,6 billion a day, or a quarter of all European trading, according to Cboe data.
Frankfurt loses 0,15%, after updating its all-time highs. Progress for Paris +0,42% and Madrid +0,18. Risk appetite penalizes the dollar. The euro is trading higher at 1,225, while it is down slightly against the pound. Among the raw materials, oil pushes the accelerator, Brent +0,9%, 51,36 dollars a barrel. Progress also for the February 2021 gold future, +0,32%, 1886,50 dollars an ounce. What is largely injecting confidence is Donald Trump's green light to the 1.400 trillion dollar spending bill to finance the government until September and the 900 billion aid plan that Republicans and Democrats approved last week in Congress. The law provides a $600 allowance for adults and children of families with gross income up to $75.000. Furthermore, yesterday the House approved with a bipartisan majority the increase of the check from 600 to 2.000 dollars, following the request of the president, however it is not obvious that the Senate, with a Republican majority, will approve the increase.
On the vaccine front, there is the decision of the European Union to purchase another 100 million doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, as announced by the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen in a tweet. The 27 countries in the bloc will then get 300 million doses of the vaccine, which has been judged to be safe and effective, von der Leyen said. The approval times are getting longer instead of the AstraZeneca vaccine which, according to Ema sources, it won't be able to arrive before the end of January.
