The "phase one" of the negotiation with China is about to close. Donald Trump himself announced it yesterday evening, favoring yet another Wall Street record. Of course, the problems remain, starting with Hong Kong. And the US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, has announced that from now on all telecommunications equipment imported from China to America will have to be authorized by his office, to prevent the entry of spy machines. But, beyond the frictions, it seems that the two Greats want to pave the way for the year-end rally.
The plus sign dominates the Asian stock exchanges: Tokyo +0,5%, Sydney +0,9%, Seoul Kospi +0,4%, Shanghai Composite +0,2%. In Hong Kong (+0,1%) traffic has resumed on the motorway.
The rain of records continued on Wall Street yesterday with new highs for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq, thanks to increases of around 0,2%.
Walt Disney is up (+1,3%): subscribers to the new streaming service are growing by one million units a day.
Best Buy sales are booming (+9,86%). Suffers after the Hewlett Packard accounts (-8,48%).
The dollar-yen exchange rate drops for the sixth consecutive day to 109,1.
The 10-year Treasury Note trades at 1,74%. Meanwhile, the differential between the yield on ten-year and two-year bonds is decreasing again.
STILL LIQUIDITY THE FED SUPPORTS THE RALLY
The flattening of the curve shows that investors are still starved for liquidity despite the $250 billion the Federal Reserve has made available in the last sixty days through reverse transactions. Covert QE has already resulted in a $4.000 trillion increase in the US central bank's balance sheet, fueling the rally in stock markets.
The abundant liquidity also supports gold prices, this morning at 1.458 dollars an ounce.
Oil also rose, Brent traded at 64,2 dollars a barrel, close to the highest since mid-September.
PIR EFFECT: THE STAR INDEX SHINES
Yesterday the price lists of the Old Continent moved little. Piazza Affari was an exception. The main index finished up 0,37% at 23.553, a head and shoulders above Paris (+0,08%) and Madrid (+0,05%), while Frankfurt finished in the red (-0,08% ).
The most significant figure of the day was the rise of the Star index (+2,3%) and that of the Ftse Mid Cap (+2,01%). The impetus was given by the approval of the provision which restores, with some modifications, the regime of the old Pir. The Finance Commission of the Chamber has unanimously approved the amendment to the Tax Decree which modifies the law on PIR. The constraints established by the law of May 2019 are removed and replaced with the obligation to allocate at least 3,5% of the fund to securities issued by companies not listed on either the FTSE Mib or the FTSE Mid. The approval of the provision can open a new season for the Pir.
LSE TOWARDS REFINITIV, MOVEMENTS ON THE ITALIAN STOCK EXCHANGE
No less relevant innovations are emerging for Borsa Italiana spa. The board of the London Stock Exchange, which controls Piazza Affari, yesterday approved the purchase of the giant Refinitiv, the data supplier sold by Thomson Reuter for 27 billion dollars. Among the possible developments of the operation there could be the sale of the Mts jewel, impractical given the strategic value of the platform for bond trading. Thus the hypothesis of a consortium, led by Mediobanca and the CDP, to acquire control of the Italian stock market is looming.
ECB PREPARES EUROPEAN BITCOIN
Great excitement also in the ECB house. Yesterday, ECB board member Benoit Coeure revealed a plan to create a central bank-led cryptocurrency, needed to “ensure a common currency even in the age of digital currency”.
Closure slightly down, more marked for Italian government bonds which are affected by the forthcoming medium/long-term auctions.
Today, after the placement of Ctz and BtpEi, it's the turn of the 6-month Bot with the yield on the security seen slightly up: at the end, the rate on the six-monthly bond was worth -0,185% compared to -0,213% at the October auction.
THE LITTLE REVENGE IS AIRED ON THE LIST
In Piazza Affari, mid- and small-cap stocks shine in the wake of the new PIRs: Fiera Milano +5,8%, Safilo +5,81%, D'Amico +8,95%, Elica +5,36%, Astaldi +8,69% and Carel Industries +16,59%, best stock on the list. Money also on RCS (+4,9%) and Autogrill (+3,2%).
The shares of motorway companies rebound: Astm +5,49%, Sias +5,00%. Fidentiis believes that "the latest updates on the collapse of the Savona bridge confirm the first impressions that there should be no liability on the part of the company".
INCREASE FOR JUVENTUS, STELLAR ESTIMATE FOR GUARDIOLA
The Juventus board of directors has exercised the mandate for the capital increase of up to 300 million in option to the shareholders in the ratio of 8 new shares for every 25 held, at the subscription price of 0,93 euro. The discount on Terp calculated at yesterday's close is 29,01%.
Exor has undertaken to subscribe its share, equal to 63,8% of the share capital, for a value of approximately 191,2 million euro.
Just yesterday 10% of Manchester City was sold by the controlling shareholder, headed by Abu Dhabi, for just under 500 million dollars to the US fund Silver Lake, already specialized in hi-tech. The valuation of the club, therefore, is around 4,8 billion dollars.
BUZZI MAKES CASH IN THE USA
Buzzi +2,5%: Kosmos Cement Company, a company based in Kentucky in which the group holds a 25% stake, has signed an agreement for the sale of some assets to Eagle Materials, for 665 million dollars.
Fiat Chrysler (-0,2%) communicated to its employees that the pre-contract on the merger with Peugeot will be signed in the next few weeks, the same was communicated by the French company.
Enel (+0,8%) announced the new business plan. Between 2019 and 2021 ordinary EBITDA should grow by an average of 4,1%. In 2020, Ebitda should reach 18,6 billion euros, 100 million euros more than the previous forecast but below consensus expectations. Some indications on the 2020 and 2021 dividend have slightly improved. The plan provides for a sharp cut in CO2 production.
Amplifon closed up by 2%, setting a new all-time high at €25,76.
AIM, RECORD DEBUT FOR FOS
In the Aim Fos +44,44% at the debut of the Genoese company active in the provision of IT and telecommunications services. This is the 34th freshman since the beginning of the year, which brings the number of companies currently listed on the market dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises to 134.
