Milan fails to pull off the recovery triggered by Wall Street: the Ftse Mib drops 2,46%. The other European Stock Exchanges also recovered only slightly from the lows of the session: the Dax fell by 2,19%, the Ftse 100 by 1,01% and the Cac by 1,92%.
A new decision comes from France: the market supervisory authority, the AMF, decided today to ease the ban on short selling in an attempt to reassure operators, worried about not being able to trade futures due today. In a volatile session, sales pushed the indices sharply down several times, with falls between 2,5 and above 3%, with sales affecting the auto sector, cyclical stocks and banks under fears for the recession and the debt crisis in Europe. Several attempts at ascent. The latest and greatest backlash came with Wall Street's turnaround into positive territory. But the US rebound was also soon extinguished, returning to negative territory.
Now the indices travel uncertain: the Dow Jones is down by 0,25% and the Nasdaq up by 0,27%. Close behind the European squares, where above all Milan (but also Frankfurt) has returned to widen the losses. The protagonist of the attention of the US markets today is HP which has announced a change of strategy: it has wrong-footed the markets (the stock falls by 20%) by foreseeing the exit from the tablet and smartphone market and the possible spin-off of PC production. The group also announced the acquisition of Autonomy Corp, the second largest British software company (+74% the share) for over 10 billion dollars. Spreading some optimism overseas among the various cuts in GDP estimates made by investment banks (today Jp Morgan was also added) was the thought of the president of the New York Fed William Dudley for whom in the second part of the he economy could improve during the year: temporary factors such as the high prices of food and energy that hit household incomes and the earthquake in Japan would have weighed on the first half of the year.
While Greece has revised its GDP downwards and Spain has launched three new anti-deficit measures, the EU has opened up to Eurobonds, which has blocked the way at least for now by the Franco-German front of Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel. The European Commission, said the Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Union, Olli Rehn, is working to present a report to the European Parliament and the Council for the development of a common issue system for government bonds Europeans. However, Rehn did not go too far on a timing.
Meanwhile, after the new alarms on the liquidity of French banks and the ability to refinance themselves of the branches of European banks in the US, into which the Fed has allegedly launched an investigation, tensions remain high. The statistics released by the ECB indicate that European banks have decreased the propensity to lend money to each other. In fact, despite the low rate of remuneration, deposits with the ECB rose yesterday to 90,5 billion euros, the highest in the last ten days. However, these levels are still far from autumn 2008, after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.
THE GOLD AND SWISS FRANC RUN CONTINUES
EUROS ABOVE $1,44
Safe haven purchases continue: gold recorded another record above 1.880 dollars an ounce but silver and platinum are also flying. The Swiss franc, despite the exceptional measures of the Central Bank, rose against the euro to 1,1343 francs per euro from 1,1380 yesterday and appreciated by 1% to 0,7859 francs per dollar against the US currency. The euro/dollar rose to 1,4410 from 1,4333 while the yen soared to its highest level against the dollar since the Second World War. Oil continues to decline. Then the race for government bonds considered safer in the euro area continues: in addition to the bund, investors have bought gilts, government bonds of Great Britain, which have reached historic lows coming close to the levels recorded in the Victorian era. Thanks to the ECB's purchases, the spreads of BTPs on the Bund have once again fallen below 290 to 282 basis points today.
FIAT INDUSTRIAL IN THE CYCLIC STORM IN THE SIGHT
In Milan the session was very volatile with several stocks suspended due to excessive downtrend. The Agnelli galaxy was in the sights throughout the session: Fiat Industrial closed down by 6,40% affected by the cut of Goldman Sachs' rating to neutral and by the caution in 2012 sales of CNH competitor John Deere; Fiat loses 4,30% but Goldman Sachs still puts it on its conviction buy list; Exor sells 3,72%%
FINMECCANICA AND FONDIARIA REBOUND SAI
TERNA RECOVERY AFTER THE ROBIN HOOD TAX
On the Ftse Mib Finmeccanica rebounds by 2,79%. During the day, the purchases also concerned the insurance companies led by Fondiaria Sai which closed up by 2,79%. Assicurazioni Generali gained 0,77% and Unipol 1,46%. Terna partially recovers (+1,49%) after being sunk in recent days also by the Robin Hood Tax with the other energy stocks. Enel closed down by 2,16% and Snam Rete Gas by 0,37%.
BANKS IN RED SALT BPM
Sales on Intesa Sanpaolo which sells 5,35%, Unicredit 5,81%%, Ubi 4,29%. In contrast, BPM which rises by 3,20%.
MEDIASET HIGHLIGHTS
COLUMBIA WANGER AM AT 2% OF APPROX
The Biscione is on the move (+2,23%) after Consob announced yesterday that Blackrock rose to 2,030% of the capital on 10 August. The quota is held in indirect asset management and is divided among 17 different subjects belonging to the Blackrock group. But today we learn that it was Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi himself who bought on August 12, rising to 39,927% from 38,980%. Consob communications also show that on 15 August Columbia Wanger Asset Management rose to 2,021% of Cir (-2,21%), the financial company owned by the De Benedetti family
