Market fever subsided abruptly this afternoon as talks on tariffs between the US and China resumed. European stock markets, dying in the morning, reversed course and closed the session up: Frankfurt +0,58%; Paris +0,99%; Madrid +0,27%; London +0,33%. Wall Street, a weak game, is currently the protagonist of a substantial rally, while Buenos Aires, after yesterday's collapse, rises by 8%.
Piazza Affari is first in class, with a gain of 1,36%, 20.539 basis points, thanks to the performance of the banks. The spread, already down in the first part of the session, fell by 4,71% to 224 basis points (despite the yield on the 0,61-year Bund being -10%) and the yield on the 1,63-year BTP fell to XNUMX%. The volumes are thin, in line with the period, but confidence in the Italian paper seems to be consolidating while awaiting the decisions of the Senate on the timing of the crisis and perhaps in the hope that at the end of a process the choice that will prevail will be that of a caretaker government .
Oil celebrates the prospect of a trade truce and accelerates. Brent +4,15%, 61 dollars a barrel; Wti +3,9%, $57,07. The greater propensity for risk is holding back gold, which moves downwards around 1511 dollars an ounce.
The note strengthens against the euro, already weakened by the collapse of the Zew index of economic confidence in Germany in August; the exchange rate moves in the 1,181 area.
The miraculous medicine that has awakened the markets today is the result of two pieces of news from the two feuding superpowers. On the one hand, the Chinese trade minister, Liu He, revealed that he spoke on the phone with Robert Lighthizer and Steven Mnuchin, respectively trade representative and US Treasury secretary. The two sides would agree to hear back within a couple of weeks. On the other hand, a note from the Lighthizer office announced that some high-tech products will be excluded from the 10% tariffs that will come into effect on September XNUMXst.
For smartphones, laptop computers, consoles and certain toys, duties are postponed until December 15th. Like a match thrown on a straw, the news ignited stocks like Apple (+4,2%), chip makers, which support the tech sector, toy makers like Hasbro (+3,9%) and Mattel (+3,5 .XNUMX%). "It's unlikely that a major deal will come, but we could start to see some small concessions on both sides," said Tom Plumb, Chief Investment Officer at Plumb Funds. Thus, for the moment, worries about Hong Kong, Argentina and the dangerous approaching yields of US two- and ten-year bonds remain in the shadows.
In Piazza Affari the party starts from Banco Bpm +3,98%; Ubi +3,89%; Unicredit +3,05%; Understanding +2,79%; Mps +7,2%, with the sale of non-performing loans for around 340 million. In dust Stm +3,18, particularly sensitive to Chinese duties. The auto sector did well, starting with Pirelli +3,28%. Leonardo +2,83%; Saipem +2,75%; Unipol +2,61%.
Profit-taking penalizes Campari -1,67%. Declining Telecom -1,16%; Recordati -0,87%; Juventus -0,56%.
