Duties, rates and Web Tax shake the markets

Wall Street Eagerly Awaits Powell's First Press Conference: Three or Four Fed Rate Hikes in 2018? – The EU taxes the web – Takeover bid on Yoox is triggered today – Showers of quarterly reports for Piazza Affari

Caution reigns on the stock markets which, while waiting for the Fed meeting, are busy digesting the many news arriving on the geopolitical front.

The week thus starts to open in the red in Tokyo (-0,9%) under the pressure of the yen (+0,3% to 105,7 against the dollar). Hong Kong +0,2% after the announcement of the retirement of Li Ka Shing, perhaps the richest man in Asia, who at the age of 89 handed over the baton of command to his son Victor Li.

NEW CENTRAL BANKER IN BEIJING

Chinese stock markets were positive: Csi 300 index +0,3%. This morning President Xi, fresh from his new mandate, renewed his economic staff: the new vice premier is Liu He, a Harvard graduate, the man Xi sent to Washington to avoid a trade war; The new governor of the central bank will be Yi Gang, Zhou Xiaochuan's current deputy, who will be responsible for leading the repression of shadow finance and putting order on the markets, which are too fickle and speculative for the president.

The Seoul Stock Exchange is down by 0,8%, that of India by 0,3%.

A NEW SCREEN FOR PHONES: SUPPLIERS SUFFER

Apple's suppliers are suffering in all Asian price lists: tonight Bloomberg wrote that the iPhone manufacturer is developing a new type of screen, with better performance than those currently on the market.

The US currency marks a slight rise against the euro (1,2224), futures on the S&P index mark a slight fall (-0,3%).

Oil is also down, after the positive end of the week: Brent trades at 65,89 dollars, Wti at 61,98 dollars a barrel. Today begins the awaited visit to the United States of Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who tomorrow will meet with President Trump, one of the many appointments expected by the markets during the week.

FED, SPOTLIGHT ON POWELL'S DEBUT

The central event will be the Federal Reserve meeting, which is expected to ratify the first rate hike since the Powell era. But the markets' attention goes far beyond the 0,25% increase now discounted by operators. The new governor's first press conference will make it possible to understand whether the Fed deems three hikes sufficient for 2018, as already said in December, or whether the Board is now oriented, on the basis of incoming data from the economy and the positive response from the market at the recent bond auctions, up four times. US markets ended the week in the red: Dow Jones -1,5%, S&P -1,2%, Nasdaq -1%. The two-year T bond, the most sensitive to discount rate movements, closed at 2,28%, the highest since 2008.

US ELECTIONS, THE DATA OF 50 MILLION FACEBOOK CUSTOMERS HAPPENING

It's not just rates that will shake Wall Street's mood. The markets, already under stress from the tensions on tariffs and changes in the president's staff, will today have to deal with the emergency that has hit Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg will have to explain the silence on the theft of data from 50 million customers by Cambridge Analytics , used by Trump's staff in the election campaign.

Oracle's accounts are scheduled today, tomorrow it will be Fedex's turn, Thursday Nike.

G20, THE EU READY FOR A 3% LEVY ON THE WEB

No less important today is the meeting of G-20 finance ministers in Buenos Aires. The meeting is weighed down by tensions due to the US tariffs imposed on steel and aluminium. In response, today the Europeans will place the issue of taxes paid by the web giants at the center of the meeting. The United States has already declared its opposition, but the EU is ready to go on the attack: at the Brussels summit on Wednesday, the Commission will propose to apply a 3% tax on the turnover of digital giants, a measure that should bring at least 5 billion euros.

Finally, the G20 should take an official position on virtual currencies, in line with what has already been established by the SEC, which specified that only price lists subject to federal rules can operate in the USA.

The European Council, which will meet in Brussels, will not limit itself to addressing the issue of the web tax and duties. The summit of EU premiers, the first after new mandate to Angela Merkel, will address the issue of Brexit and, above all, community reforms.

The Bank of England's board meeting will take place on Thursday. The forecast is that Mark Carney will not proceed with a rate increase for now: a rise, according to 70% of observers, will take place in May.

Numerous economic statistics of the week. In particular, data on the performance of the manufacturing industry and services of the main countries of the Eurozone will be announced on Thursday. The Economic Bulletin of the ECB will be released on Thursday.

PUTIN WINS STRAIGHT, THE RUBLE AND THE MOSCOW BONDS WELL

The dollar-ruble exchange rate moved little, after the obvious electoral victory of Vladimir Putin in the presidential elections with 77% of the votes. The affirmation was preceded on Friday by the success of the auction of euro bonds issued by the Moscow Treasury, despite the Cold War climate with London and the allies: requests amounting to 7,2 billion dollars have arrived, compared to a target of 4 billion dollars.

But Russia has taken its precautions anyway. The latest long-term issue in dollars (2,5 billion, maturing in 2047) contains an unprecedented clause: in the event of "reasons beyond the control of the issuer" the debt at maturity could be paid in another currency than the dollar, including the ruble. In short, Moscow is taking its precautions in the event of a currency embargo.

ITALY, TODAY DATA ON INDUSTRY

The Moody's agency postponed the update of Italy's rating on Friday (currently Baa2, negative outlook) pending more precise indications on future public finance trends. Fitch, on Thursday evening, instead confirmed the BBB rating with stable prospects.

Industrial production and trade balance data will be released today.