Downturn for the end of the week for the equity markets, influenced by the negative accounts of the three Big A's on Wall Street (Apple, Amazon and Alphabet). In Frankfurt their shares lose between 3 and 5%. The index of technological stocks falls: among European companies, it limits damages Infineon -0,7%% but holds the positions Stm +0,22%. Dutchman Tom Tom advances +9% thanks to the results.
Stock exchanges latest news: Big Tech disappoints, waiting for Apple and Amazon
But the most important data will only come out in the afternoon: the numbers on the US labor market, the first important confirmation of the slowdown in the US economy. Much more important for Milan are the Banca Intesa accounts. Our home credit flagship is down 3% after the release of quarterly data. Total revenues amounted to 5,67 billion euros, about two hundred million above the consensus. Operating profit at 2,54 billion better than the 2,2 billion estimated by analysts. The company confirms the remuneration plans for the shareholders and expects this year a much higher operating margin than that of 2022, with a slight decrease also for Unicredit -0.9%, the best stock of the Eurostoxx bank for 2023.
For the rest, Piazza Affari, slowing down at the end of the morning, is busy digesting the fruits of yesterday's extraordinary session, fueled by the feeling that the ECB rate hike season (six increases since last July) is coming to an end.
Piazza Affari down after the week's strong gains
The achievements are particularly striking Ferrari -2,6% after i strong gains on the back of the quarterly and the prospects for the current year. Then the sales continue Cnh in drop of 2,4% after the news of the imminent abandonment of Piazza Affari (it will remain listed only in New York). Telecom Italia's race also slowed down +0,6% after the fireworks on the eve. The board of the company will make a decision on Kkr's offer on the network in the Board of Directors meeting on February 24, but remains open to other solutions, and in this context there could be a countermove by the CDP.
On the contrary, Pirelli is up +2,2% thanks to the boost from Morgan Stanley's promotion to overweight. Saipem also rose thanks to the prospect of new contracts. In the rest of the list, Geox +2% deserves a mention, announcing revenue growth of around 20% in 2022 and forecasting further progress in the current year.
The BTPs weaken after the ECB decisions
After yesterday's exploit weakens the ten-year BTP, traded at 3,97% for a spread of 173 points.
In the aftermath of ECB advice which marked an afternoon of dizzying fall in yields, the implicit rates of the Eurozone clearly indicate that the interbank market, in spite of the declarations of the "hawks" continues to bet on an imminent fall in the cost of money. Rate expectations mirrored by the Euribor curve show a near 50% probability of an ECB rate cut by a quarter of a point after a peak in August. For the end of 2024, there are three quarter-point cuts incorporated by the implied rates.
And emerging market bonds are back in fashion
Meanwhile, bonds from emerging countries are back in fashion: in January, ETFs were purchased for around one billion dollars on the debt of Mexico, Brazil but also Mongolia.
Wall Street futures fall before the release of US employment data: At 14.30pm the change in US employment comes out, new jobs should have dropped to 189.000 in January. Unemployment should have risen slightly to 3,6%. Average wage growth is estimated at +4,3%, from +4,6% in December.
To follow the progress of Big of technology after Apple missed its quarterly targets for the first time since 2016.
