Stock markets down, but not knocked out: euro and Btp hold up

After the Greeks' No in the referendum, today Milan is the worst among the main European stock exchanges (weighted by bank stocks), but the drop is less serious than expected – Euro stable, Btp-Bund spread slightly up – Waiting for the decision of the ECB on funds for Greek banks – Merkel-Hollande meeting today, Eurogroup and European Council tomorrow

European stock markets down, but less than expected. In the middle of the day, the worst market is Business Square (-2,39%), below the barrier of 22 points, at 21.970, dragged down by bank stocks. It's much better at Frankfurt (-0,8%) ea Paris (-0,9%). Also Madrid (-1,7%) suffers less from the Tsipras effect than Milan.

Equity decline is strong but does not affect theeuro, stable at 1,1008 against the dollar.

The picture of government bonds is even more reassuring. The action of the ECB acted as a barrier to speculative tensions: the yield on the German Bund dropped slightly, from 0,78 to 0,74%. As a consequence, the yield paid by BTPs rises, but not by much, from 2,24 to 2,30%. The spread it widens to 154, however down from the 160 points reached in the morning.

Looking forward to the meeting ECB and, above all, for tomorrow's summits (Eurogroup at 13 pm, heads of state in the late afternoon) the markets have adopted a wait-and-see stance. Even the ministers of the Eurogroup "are awaiting new proposals from the Greek authorities", reads a note. Today the European Central Bank should freeze ELA funds, but avoid drastic moves against Greek banks, which are still closed.

Angela Merkel will meet tonight Francois Hollande. The German position on debt, warns Wolfgang Schaeuble from Berlin, has not changed. Meanwhile Tsipras changes the team: Minister Yanis Varoufakis has resigned.

The banks in Milan are under fire, affected by the drop in government bonds. The Big lose their shots Understanding (-3,64%) And Unicredit (-3,55%). The landslide continues Mount Paschi: -6,8%, after the 8,7% burned last week.

They suffer the most Banco Popolare (-5,1%), bpm (-5,17%), Ubi (-5,3%) And Mediobanca (-4,1%). The insurance companies also retreat: Generali (-2,9%), UnipolSai (-4%). Industrial stocks also fell: Fiat-Chrysler -2,3% Finmeccanica below 2,5%.

The electrics are also down: Enel -2,9% A2A -2,2%. The list of push ups continues with Telecom Italy (-1,7%) and oil companies: Eni -1,7%, they do worse Saipem (-3%) And Tenaris (-3,1%).