Under the sign of Fed. The markets, absorbed (perhaps too quickly) the scenario opened by Qe European, are now focused on next week's Fed decisions. That is, if the central bank starts the almost predictable increase in US rates in June or September. While awaiting news, the Stock Exchanges advance in no particular order.
The Exchange of Tokyo ends the week higher thanks to robots. In fact, pushing the Nikkei (+1,6%) to a new record is the leap of the world leader in industrial robotics, Fanuc, which recorded a performance of 12%.
The rebound of naturally contributed to the performance of the market, which has been up for five weeks Wall Street which reversed Wednesday's declines: the Dow Jones index recovered 1,47%, the S&P 500 1,26% and the Nasdaq 0,89%. Despite the recovery, the S&P is on course to close for the third consecutive week in the red. The unexpected drop in consumption in February (-0,6% against the expected +0,3%) slowed the dollar's run, which in any case remains close to 1,06 against the euro.
The EU stock exchanges allowed themselves a break after the long rally. Milano closed the session slightly down: the Ftse Mib index recorded a drop of 0,12% to 22809 points. Down too Paris (-0,21%), Frankfurt (-0,6%) And Madrid (-0,09%). Advance instead London (+0,59%) following in New York.
PUBLIC DEBT, LONG SECURITIES ARE FASHIONABLE
The "historic" figure comes from the government bond market: four days after the start of the bond purchase program by the European Central Bank, the yield on the BTP fell to new absolute lows of 1,05%. The spread broke below 90 to touch 85 bps.
Between Monday, the start date of Quantitative Easing, and Wednesday, the ECB bought 9,2 billion euros on the secondary market with an average maturity of 9 years, said Bonoit Coeure, a French member of the bank's executive committee. The plan foresees that it will reach 60 billion in a month.
Italy took advantage of the exceptionally advantageous conditions this morning to place three government bonds with maturities of three years, seven years and thirty years, for a total amount of 7,5 billion euros.
Demand was very strong, especially for the three-year bond, assigned a record yield of 0,15%, 30 basis points less than the last issue of this maturity which took place in February. The 30-year bond was placed at 1,86%, from 3,29%.
It is probable, operators say, that the Treasury now wants to take advantage of the economic situation to issue new long-term bonds: one or two 15-year issues are in sight, one fixed rate, the other indexed.
THE SHADOW OF SOLVENCY 2 HOLDS BACK THE GENERALS
The drop in Generali, which finished down by 4,4% after having released this morning, weighed on Piazza Affari the results of 2014: against a profit in line with expectations and a dividend which rose by 33% to 0,60 euro, the analysts underline a disappointing figure with regard to the Solvency II capital strength index. CFO Alberto Minali told reporters that the Solvency 2 data does not change the dividend policy, because the company has an adequate level of capital.
POPULAR ON THE SCUDI, THE DIVIDEND PUSHES AZIMUTH
On the other hand, purchases on popular institutions continued. Yesterday the Chamber approved by a large majority (290 against 149) the conversion into law of the decree reforming cooperative banks, the ball passes to the Senate.
Pop.Milano shines in particular (+4,1%). Pop.Emilia still rises (+1,4%). Unicredit +1,7%, Intesa and MontePaschi +0,7%. Azimut (+5%), the top title of the day, was very prominent in asset management. The higher-than-expected profit and dividend drove the price. The coupon increased to €0,78 per share from €0,70 for a yield of around 3,3%.
MARCHIONNE: "SEVEN BILLION FOR FERRARI IS A FEW"
The FCA race resumes (+1,7%), also driven by the words of Sergio Mrchionne on the sidelines of the SGS meeting. "For Ferrari - said the manager - I expect a value well over 7 billion, I can't do anything with 7 billion". "We haven't yet decided whether to list more than 10%" he added, not excluding a bond issue on Ferrari: "I don't know, Ferrari has a net debt of one billion".
Regarding the search for a possible partner, Marchionne said: “We will see the results of what we are doing after the relaunch of Alfa Romeo, but having a purely European player as an ally is not an ideal solution. We have to face the problem of high expenses, the question we have to ask ourselves is how to manage to contain the consumption of capital”.
On the results, “The first quarter of 2015 is in line with what we expected. There are still two important weeks to go”, commented Marchionne. "In Brazil the market has dropped, it's a problem for everyone, we are adapting," he added.
Pirelli lost 0,2%.
INTEL WARNING BRAKES STM
They correct the most prominent titles in Wednesday's session. Stm lost 3,4%, shares widened losses on news of Intel's revenue alarm: the world's largest computer chipmaker said sales for the current quarter will be $12,8 billion dollars, a margin of 300 million, compared to 13,7 billion previously seen.
Telecom Italia -0,2% after Wednesday's abundant +7%. Finmeccanica also falls (-0,8%), which gained more than 5% on Wednesday.
TODAY THE PLANS OF THE SIX-LEGGED DOG. TERNI ENERGY BOOM
Eni -0,6% pending the meeting of CEO Clausio Descalzi with London analysts. At the center of the meeting was the dividend, the timing of the current disposals and the spin off of the division to be entrusted to a returning ex, Stefano Cao. Saipem (+0,4%) and Tenaris (+1%) rose. Among the utilities, Snam closed in parity on the day the 2014 data was released. Enel -1%.
Well bought A2A (+1,52%): Banca ImI has raised the recommendation on the stock from add to buy, with the target price going from 0,95 to 1,13 euro. Erg did well in the rest of the energy sector (+0,34%) after the very positive results. E.On's hydroelectric activities in Italy are in the sights.
TerniEnergia rises by 5,3% to 1,89 euros. The company active in the sectors of energy from renewable sources, energy efficiency, waste and energy management, announced that the subsidiary Free Energia closed 2014 with revenues doubled to 199,4 million euros (+ 105,9%). Ebitda stood at 4,4 million with an increase of 119%.
E-COMMERCE, YOOX AND BANZAI GOOD. FERRAGAMO, LUXURY ACCOUNTS
Yoox rose by 1,4% on the day of the presentation of the preliminary data of the second quarter of the competitor Asos up by 13%. The boom of the English company that sells luxury clothing through its website (sales up by 19%) also gave a boost to Banzai (+2,6% to 5,88 euros) in the final session.
Salvatore Ferragamo (+2,74%) communicated the 2014 results after the closure of the Stock Exchange. Net profit rose by 4% to 157 million, the dividend will be 0,42 euro per ordinary share with an increase of 5%.
MONDADORI UP', RCS DOWN'
RCS Mediagroup's landslide continues (-7%) in the aftermath of the downward revision of the 2015 targets. Conversely, Mondadori rises (+3,5%) to €1,077 after the release of 2014 data and 2017 targets : Ebitda has passed to 67,1 million from the loss of 12,8 in 2013. The CEO Ernesto Mauri declared that Mondadori's offer for Rcs Libri was made on the basis of high multiples and the eventual operation could be made in debt.
