Sales on European lists are back, after a week of ups and downs, conditioned by the vaccine war and the disturbed climate on Wall Street, grappling with the speculation of small investors on stocks on which large professional investors have made many short sales , i.e. low bets.
Piazza Affari loses .57% stopping at 21.572 basis points in line with Frankfurt -1,7%, while Paris -2,02%, Madrid -2,29% and London -2% are worse off. Also travel in red on Wall Street, after the rebound on the eve of the day in which Johnson & Johnson (-3%) announces that its single-dose vaccine against the coronavirus is 72% effective in the United States, but in the presence of variants its protection drops to 66% and even 57% in South Africa.
On the subject of vaccines, meanwhile in Europe Moderna has also cut supplies, by 20%, while the EMA has given the green light to AstraZeneca serum for those over 18 years of age. However, the interpretation of the contract with the EU, which the Commission has also published, remains controversial. To take stock of the prospects for the vaccination campaign in the area, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will have a virtual meeting next Sunday with the CEOs of a number of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies.
Risk aversion revives the appeal of gold. The April 2021 contract rises by 1%, reaching 1860,30 dollars an ounce. Silver also soars, appreciating by almost 5%. The metal could be targeted by amateur traders who are wreaking havoc on Wall Street. As Ugo Bertone writes today in First “Silver prices rose 4% on Thursday, accelerating from +2,5% on Wednesday on the back of increased buyers. It is not excluded that the crowd of traders has targeted silver, a raw material traditionally sold short by the big names on Wall Street. JP Morgan is the first on the list of entities to have open short positions”.
In the stock returns to orbit at New York GameStop (suspended in volatility for an increase of more than 83%), which yesterday lost 43%, after Robinhood and other trading platforms had blocked purchases. The SEC, i.e. the American supervisory authority, has communicated that it is carefully monitoring the extreme volatility of prices on the markets with the intention of protecting retail investors from market manipulations.
Among the raw materials, oil has little movement. The April 2021 Brent future trades at 55,30 dollars a barrel (+0,3%). On the currency market the euro remains in the 1,21 zone against the dollar, on the day the data on German GDP for the fourth quarter came out. The economy of the locomotive of the area grew by only 0,1% due to the second wave of infections that clipped the wings after the recovery in the third quarter.
The negative climate it is particularly reflected in the banking sector on a continental level with inevitable effects also in Piazza Affari. On the main list, Bper loses -2,5%: Unicredit -2,2%; Understanding -1,55%; Banco Bpm -1,68%. Outside Mps it drops 2,64%, after the launch of the capital plan to be presented to the ECB.
The blue chip that records the biggest discount is Amplifon, -3,31%. Male Saipem -3,26%; Interpump -3,19%; Moncler -3,08%; Unipol -2,58%; Prysmian -2,56%; Enel -2,5%.
Post, -1,92,%. The company announces that the acquisition of the entire share capital of Nexive Group Srl from PostNL European Mail Holdings BV and Mutares Holding – 32 GmbH has been completed. The purchase price of the entire share capital is equal to 34,4 million, based on an enterprise value of $50 million and net debt of $5,6 million.
The small patrol of blue-chip gainers includes Diasorin +1,63%; Recorded +1.4%; Stm +0,79%; Pirelli +0,72%; Ferrari +0,67%; Leonardo+0,49%; Hera +0,07%. Despite the government crisis, the secondary maintains the positive intonation of the past few days. The spread between Italian and German ten-year bonds drops to 116 basis points (-1,95%) and the BTP rate remains nailed to +0,61%.
