It's a difficult Friday for the European stock exchanges. In the early afternoon, Business Square leaves 1,7% in the field, such as Paris. It gets worse Frankfurt (-1,9%), while Madrid limits losses to one percentage point. Outside the Eurozone, London marks -0,8%.
Stock markets in red on Friday: Fed three rate hikes in sight
What worries investors are the words spoken on Thursday by Jerome Powell, number one of the Federal Reserve, according to whom it would be "appropriate to move a little faster" on interest rates. The possibility that they will arrive is therefore concrete three consecutive raises (50 basis points each) starting from May. If indeed this is the Fed's strategy, it will be the fastest monetary tightening since 1982.
PMI indices: services accelerate, manufacturing slows down
On the macro side, give it a go PMI indices signals arrive in chiaroscuro. According to preliminary data from IHS Markit for the month of April, in Germany the data on services rose to 57,9 points (from 56,1 in April), the highest level in the last eight months, while the manufacturing index fell from 56,9 in March to 54,1 in April, the at least 20 months. The composite index therefore stands at 54,5 points, the lowest figure for three months.
At the level of Eurozone, however, in April the composite PMI rose to 55,8 points (from 54,9 points), the highest in seven months. In detail, the services index increased from 55,6 to 57,7 points (the maximum for eight months), while the manufacturing index decreased from 56,5 to 55,3 points, the minimum for 15 months.
Red Friday stock exchanges: best and worst on the Ftse Mib
On the Ftse Mib, it stands out against the trend Bpm bank (+0,8%), which recorded the best increase on the list after confirming the start of a process to evaluate the offers received for the bancassurance sector. Among the few positive titles too Terna (+ 0,23%), Atlantia (+ 0,13%) and Unipol (+ 0,11%).
The worst drop in the basket is instead that of Saipem (-4,6%), affected by the realizations after yesterday's surge (+11,8% in the wake of quarterly accounts better than expected and the news that the shareholders Eni and Cdp have paid 646 million euros into a future capital increase account, resulting in a decrease in financial debt).
Bad too Ferrari (-3,3%), forced to recall 2.222 cars in China due to possible brake problems. They do even worse Recordati (-3,5%) And Interpump (-3,4%).
Norges Bank sides with Generali's board of directors
News home Generali (-0,9%): in view of themeeting of April 29 called to elect the new board, Norges Bank takes sides in favor of the list of the current Board. The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund had participated in the 2021 meeting with a stake of around 1,5% and since then its participation should not have changed significantly.
spread
Bad news for Italy also from the debt market, where the BTP-Bund spread travels up 2,11%, to 169 basis points.
Euro
As for currencies, the euro it slipped to 1.08036 dollars, from the 1,0856 exchange rate recorded yesterday.
Commodities
Finally, on the commodities front, the Petroleum it is down: -1,04% in London for June Brent (at 107,20 dollars a barrel) and -1,03% in New York for the same delivery of Wti (at 102,72 dollars).
Continue to rise, however, the natural gas: +3,9%, to 104 euros per megawatt hour, the May contract on the Dutch TTF platform.
