In the wake of the statements of ECB member Coeure and the interventions announced by the Russian Central Bank in defense of the ruble, Piazza Affari tries to wipe out the losses without succeeding completely: the Ftse Mib stops just below parity, closing down by 0,54 %, while the Btp-bund spread narrows to 138 points benefiting from expectations for Qe.
In Italy, Confindustria has revised its 2014 GDP estimates downwards, while the restart in 2015 will be facilitated by the drop in oil prices. Contrasted by the other European stock exchanges: Madrid -0,32%, Frankfurt snatches +0,02%, Paris +0,46% and London +0,07% which confirms the good performance of the labor market: in Great Britain the The unemployment rate remained stable at 6% in the quarter ending in October, the lowest level since the end of 2008.
In Europe today, Eurostat data indicated a new slowdown in consumer prices: inflation in the euro area fell to 0,3% in November from 0,4% in October. A year earlier it was 0,9%. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, ECB Governing Council member Benoit Couere said he sees "a broad consensus within the Governing Council that we need to make more efforts" to raise the inflation rate and support the 'economy. “It's not so much a question of understanding whether we have to do something – said Coeure – as much as discussing the best way to do it. If we want to launch new initiatives, obviously we have to reach those segments of the market where there is more liquidity and the government bond market is the basic option, which does not mean that we will necessarily buy only government bonds”.
Meanwhile, today in Greece the procedure for the election of the new President of the Republic began in the afternoon. The line that the 24 independent parliamentarians and those of the two minor opposition parties will adopt will be decisive: Independent Greeks (Anel, right-wing), most of whom come from Nea Dimokratia (centre-right, in government) and Sinistra Democratica (Dimar ). The governing bodies have already unanimously decided not to vote for the election of the new head of state to provoke the fall of the government and go to early elections.
The decisive intervention by the Russian Central Bank to support the stability of the system put to the test by the collapse of the ruble triggered by the collapse of oil also gave breath to the European stock exchanges. In particular, the Russian Central Bank has announced seven measures which aim to facilitate access to foreign currency and to protect banks from accounting losses which could weaken them. Among the measures, help recapitalize the banks together with the government in a de facto nationalisation; a moratorium on risky loan coverage; foreign currency loans. After these decisions, the ruble recovered ground against the dollar, which returned to 60,82 rubles from 72,7 this morning. The euro is at 75,9 from 92,12 this morning.
The euro-dollar exchange rate was at 1,2407, down by 0,83%. WTI oil recovers 1,31% to 56,66 dollars a barrel. Markets are awaiting the Fed's monetary policy decision due tonight at 20pm and Chair Janet Yellen's press conference. Investors hope that, given the international uncertainty and market volatility, Yellen will use soft tones and confirm an expansionary monetary policy (the attention is paid to the adjective "considerable" referring to the time that can elapse between the end of the purchase plan of Treasuries and mortgage bonds that can disappear).
Meanwhile, overseas, Cuba's embargo is coming to an end after 52 years. Obama has announced that the US will "put an end to this old approach". Wall Street, after an upward opening in view of the Fed, at the end of Europe moves sharply driven by the rebound of energy stocks: the Dow Jones rises by 0,95%, the Nasdaq by 1,09% and the S&P500 by 1,20%. On the macroeconomic front, US consumer prices fell by 0,3% in November, worse than expected, while the current account deficit surprisingly increased. In the third quarter, as reported by the Commerce Department, the balance is negative for 100,26 billion dollars with an increase of 2%.
In Piazza Affari at the bottom of the Ftse Mib there are banks: Mps -2,85%, Ubi Banca -2,57%. Also in the red were Unicredit -0,47%, Intesa -1,23%, Bpm -1,39%. Countertrend in the Banco Popolare banking sector +0,91%. Buzzzi Unicem -2,5% and Finmeccanica -2,23% are also bad. Saipem manages to close in positive territory +0,58% despite the rating cut by UBS which evokes the hypothesis of a recapitalization. Among the best stocks, Tenaris +2,19%, Eni +1,81%, Yoox +1,49%, A2A +1,12%.
