Donald Trump is in the running for the Oscar of the financial week. The president announced yesterday that "the markets must prepare for very good news" regarding the negotiations with China, waiting for an agreement to be celebrated in a weekend or two "with my good friend Xi). The president's tweet thus anticipated the official press releases released overnight by Washington and Beijing in which talks of "substantial progress" in the negotiations. However, the Chinese state agency Xinhua warns that "new uncertainties" could emerge during the final squeeze. Caution, however, does not curb the euphoria:
FLY THE YUAN, KOREA WAITS FOR TRUMP
The Chinese Stock Exchanges rejoice. The Csi 300 index of Shanghai and Shenzhen rose by 4%. Since the beginning of January, the gain is 20%.
The yuan also rose to 6,68 against the dollar, its lowest against the Chinese currency for seven months.
Tokyo rebounds +0,5%, back to mid-December levels. The other Asian markets also rose, from Hong Kong +0,3% to Seoul +0,1% in anticipation of the other major event of the week: the second meeting, this time in Hanoi, with Kim, the Korean dictator. On the table, after the good intentions of the meeting eight months ago, concrete agreements on the demilitarization of the peninsula.
Futures also signal an upward start for European markets.
Brent oil moved little at 70 dollars a barrel, last week the gain was just over 1%.
GOLD SUPERSTAR, THE BRI PROMOTES THE USE OF RESERVES
Gold slightly up to 1.330 dollars an ounce. Yesterday Sole24Ore wrote that an agreement would be reached, at the level of the major central banks, on the full convertibility of gold into currency. As a result of certain accounting alchemies, contained in the regulations drawn up in Basel, the gold present in the balance sheets of credit institutions, both traditional ones and those focused on investments, would be weighted zero, ie, it would be assimilated to current money. The Bank for International Settlements in Basel, the bank of central banks, would have established that the provision should enter into force on March 29, the same as the entry into force, unless postponed, of the divorce of Great Britain from the European Union.
LONDON, NEW VOTE ON BREXIT IN PARLIAMENT
Theresa May announced that Parliament's vote on the Brexit plan agreed with Brussels, the third in less than a month, would take place on March 12, in time to meet the divorce roadmap (March 29), despite the open opposition from three ministers who insist on asking for a postponement of the date. But chaos reigns in Westminster: today the governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney will hold a press conference on the country's prospects on the eve of the decisions.
ITALY- FRANCE, COMPARISON WITH VERSAILLES. AND AT HOME TIM
In Europe, the delicate Italian-French meeting in Versailles is also taking center stage, which falls at a time when relations between the two countries are at their lowest for seventy years now.
Among the many dossiers that of Telecom Italia stands out. Over the weekend, Vivendi, the number one shareholder but ousted from management, said he was in favor of a merger between the Tim network and that of Open Fiber provided that "the conditions are correct and fair from an operational, financial and regulatory point of view and supervised by a board of directors composed mostly of independent directors"-
The Italian parliamentary agenda is characterized by the landing today in the Senate of the decree which includes Citizenship income and quota 100.
THE FINCANTIERI ACCOUNTS ARE HERE. PARMALAT COMES OUT OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE
While waiting for the month-end auctions (tomorrow it's the turn of the 6 billion BOTs offered) the markets are reopening their doors after overcoming the obstacle of Fitch, which has not revised down the Italian rating even though it foresees a further slowdown in GDP growth. In this regard, the definitive data for 2018 that Istat will announce on Wednesday is important.
The notebook of Piazza Affari today includes the accounts of some medium caps: Fincantieri, Piaggio and Sogefi.
On March 4, Parmalat's stock market adventure will end once and for all.
USA, BUFFETT DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO INVEST 112 BILLION
In the US to follow the words of Fed Chairman Jay Powell who will appear on Wednesday in the Senate to answer questions on the state of the US economy, from which there are signs of a slowdown. On Friday, New York Fed Chairman John Williams warned of the risk of a fall in prices.
It won't be easy to make an acquisition worthy of our goals, Warren Buffett said in his annual letter to investors. The wise man from Omaha said he was skeptical of the possibility that US growth could continue at the pace envisaged by the White House. However, the billionaire has nothing to complain about: Berkshire Hathaway closed 2018 with liquidity of 112 billion dollars and equity investments worth 172,8 billion. But the financial institution must take note of the Heinz crisis, led by L3, Buffett's Brazilian ally: Wall Street has punished the giant born from the merger with Kraft with a drastic reduction (-27%, equal to over 16 billion dollars) the group's strategy focused only on drastic cost cuts (only 200 photocopies a month were granted to managers) also to the detriment of investments.
On Wall Street, the quarterly campaign is coming to an end. The titles of large retailers (Macy's, Home Depot, Gap) and food giants such as Campbell Soup take the stage.
Crucial appointment at the SEC for Bitcoin. The supervisory body of the Stock Exchanges will have to pronounce itself this week on the legitimacy of investment funds in cryptocurrencies.
