ASIA AND WALL STREET RECOVER THANKS TO THE FED
GOLD SHINES. THE GREEK TRAGEDY RETURNS
"Several FOMC members believe further monetary accommodation is likely soon unless incoming information points to a substantial and sustainable strengthening in the pace of the recovery." This can be read in minutes of the last Fed meeting in early August. The message from the Federal Reserve, published in the evening, reversed the trend in stock prices.
Wall Street canceled the losses accumulated up to that moment: the Standard & Poor's index closed at +0,02% (it lost half a point), the Nasdaq at +0,29%. Only the Dow Jones -0,23% remains in the red.
Same script this morning in Asia. Both Tokyo +0,24% and Hong Kong +0,91% rose. In addition to the expectation of stimuli arriving from the US, there is the revision of a similar move by Beijing, made more urgent by the worrying data arriving from the economy: Chinese industrial production in August fell much more than the already pessimistic forecasts . The governor of the Chinese central bank, Zhou Xiaochuan, has said that new downward interventions on interest rates and compulsory reserves of banks are "possible". Also noteworthy is the soaring prices of agricultural raw materials. Soy has hit an all-time high.
Also noteworthy is the gold rally, trading at $1.665 an ounce. The streak of upward sessions is lengthening, so far seven. Meanwhile, gold ETCs have accumulated reserves of 2,442,263 tons, making them the world's fourth largest gold reserve.
Markets were negatively surprised yesterday by the slowdown in Japan's foreign trade. In July, exports from the Rising Sun showed a drop of 8,1% (against expectations of a more contained -2,9%) with a -25,1% of exports to the EU. Chicago Fed chairman Charles Evans commented on the data, calling the slowdown in global trade "horrible".
In Europe, attention is once again concentrated on the Greek tragedy, the battlefield on which François Hollande and Angel Merkel will compete today.
In Milan yesterday the FtseMib index fell by 1,1%, London fell by 1,4%, Paris -1,4%, Frankfurt -1%. Sharp decline of the Madrid Stock Exchange which fell by 2,5%.
Il Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras calls for more time from Greece's international creditors to implement reforms. And he says he is optimistic: "Greece will be able to get away with it even if we will only receive the new tranche of international aid in October". And in an interview with the German tabloid Bild, the conservative prime minister explained that "we only ask for a little more breathing space to get the economy going and increase state revenues". Meanwhile, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, makes it known that no decision will be taken without waiting for the report of the troika, which will conclude its mission in Athens in early September. On August 29, meeting between Mario Monti and Angela Merkel in Berlin.
on the government bond market the yield of the BTP stands at 5,63%, the spread has risen to 418 (10 basis points more than yesterday).
Between the banks Intesa stood out, rising by 0,6%. Low losses for the other banks: Unicredit -1,7%, Banco Popolare -0,7%, Monte Paschi -2,1%.
Generali it closed down 0,7%.
Positive Finmeccanica, which gained 2,7%. The press reports on the merger between Ansaldo Energia and the subsidiary Ansaldo Energia Holding, an operation which could herald a definitive exit of Finmeccanica from energy activities.
Up too +2% and Pirelli +0,6%.
Among the utilities A2A rose +0,1%, Enel closed down by 1,6%.
The disappointing results ofAmerican Dell, which announced a downward revision of its full-year earnings estimates due to falling PC demand, weighed on the tech sector. StM fell by 2012%.
Down Eni -1,7% and other oil-related stocks such as Saipem -1,2% and Tenaris -1,5%.
After the vicissitudes of Prelios (BoD on August 28) e the problems related to the Fonsai chaos (bis auction for the placement set up for 27 August) the spotlights are turned on for another brick and mortar game. Hines Italia, led by Manfredi Catella, made an offer for the Santa Giulia area controlled by Risanamento which immediately registered a jump of 16%. In the meantime, Risanamento itself has asked for a moratorium on bank creditors who are also the main shareholders (Intesa with 36% and Unicredit with 6,6%).
