The euro collapses, to a five-year low against the dollar and the bloc's stock exchanges close a volatile but ultimately positive session. War, inflation and Covid still keep the markets in check, but Wall Street rears its head and after a bit of ups and downs it's moving tonic. They weigh, for better or for worse, some quarterly, disappointing as that of Boeing (-8,1%), which is the worst stock of the Dow Jones and higher than expectations as that of Microsoft (+6,8%) and Visa (+8,6%).
The Nasdaq rebounds, after yesterday's slide that brought it to the lowest level since December 2020. Tesla recovers some ground and Twitter goes down, while Apple's quarterly results are awaited.
Among raw material oil futures are listless, trading in fractional declines. The announcement of the stop to supplies of Russian gas to Poland and Bulgaria initially sent i into orbit gas prices, which rose by more than 15% in the morning and then decreased by around +2,8% in the mid-afternoon, 106,8 euros per MWh.
In a picture that remains uncertain, investors choose to defend themselves buying dollars and selling euros: the single currency is currently losing almost 1% and trades around 1,054, also weighed down by declining consumer confidence in France and Germany.
Nor does it hold gold, which loses 1,07% and trades at 1884,71 dollars an ounce.
On the other hand, the prices of US Treasuries are up, despite the expectation of a tightening by the Fed and yields are down very slightly.
European price lists without compass
Driven by the moods of Wall Street, the European lists finally closed positive.
Piazza Affari closes with an increase of 0,63%, at 23.830 basis points. The same script is staged in Paris +0,48%, Frankfurt +0,27%; Amsterdam +0,11%; Madrid +0,46%; London +0,53%. More toned Zurich +1,09%.
Among the large companies that lifted the veil on their quarterly earnings today are banking giants such as Deutsche Bank (-5,6%) and Credit Suisse (-2,64%), both of which ended lower. The first, despite a better-than-expected result, says the Russia-Ukraine conflict could hurt its annual earnings; the second shows a loss for the period of 284 million and has decided on a governance reshuffle.
Piazza Affari, Saipem leap, Amplifon down
Divided between leap of Saipem +4,43% and the decrease of Amplifon -2,43%, Piazza Affari archives a session oscillating between money and letter.
The banks limit the damage, with Unicredit which remains slightly down (-0,16%) pending the bills, while Banco Bpm appreciates by 1,25%, after Fitch gave it a long-term rating of 'BBB-' with a 'stable' outlook. Profit-taking weighs on Mps -2,78%. Mediobanca, on the other hand, is doing well, +3,04%, while the Generali shareholders' meeting approaches +0,25%, cautious as we await the outcome of the battle over governance.
Nexi appreciates, +4,38%, favored by the above-expected quarterly results of the French rival Worldline.
Closes in no particular order the energy sector, where the most interesting starting point comes from Gas Plus (+7,58%), which hopes to benefit from an increase in national gas production.
Vanno down Leonardo -1,72% and Iveco -2,22%. The utilities are mixed: Hera drops, -1,08%, after the mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, has chosen Orazio Iacono as the new CEO in place of Stefano Venier who takes over the leadership of Snam +0,85%.
In fractional increase Stm, +0,49%. The company posted better-than-expected earnings in the first quarter as strong demand for microcontrollers offset a temporary drop in production due to coronavirus restrictions in China.
Moncler rebounds +3,65%.
Spreads and yields rise at auction
The spread between Italian and German ten-year bonds rose to 177 basis points (+2,16%), with the BTP rate at +2,58% and the Bund at +0,81%.
Auction yields are also on the rise. The Treasury has issued five billion Treasury bills maturing on 31/10/2022 against a demand of 7,471 billion euros with a supply/demand ratio of 1,49. The yield marked an increase of 18 cents to -0,308%. The settlement date of the issue falls on April 29th.
Confidence and prospects in Euroland are declining
War in Europe is not good for the economy and lowers consumer morale.
Especially according to Fitch Italy's economic prospects for 2022 deteriorated significantly, mainly due to fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Meanwhile in France, consumer confidence dropped to 88 points in April, from 90 the previous month and against expectations to 92.
The climate is not very different in Germany and the GfK Institute forecasts for the month of May that the index of the same name, an expression of consumer sentiment, will settle at -26,5 points, down 10,8 points compared to previous month. Analysts' expectations had indicated a more contained deterioration, up to -16 points.
In addition, the German economy ministry cuts its growth estimates for 2022 to 2,2% from 3,6% last January. The ministry believes the economy will expand by 2,5% in 2023, up from 2,3% previously assumed.
The government also sees inflation at 6,1% in 2022 and 2,8% next year, while rising energy prices are behind the jump in consumer prices in the country.
Finally, Istat notes that in March the Italian energy deficit with non-EU countries it reached 8,256 billion (it was 2,67 billion a year ago). "The energy deficit widens considerably - writes the Statistical Institute - but the balance in the trade of non-energy products is largely positive and slightly increasing compared to a year earlier"
