A TWITTER DOESN'T MAKE SPRING: ALL THE BAGS DOWN. AFTER THE CUTTING OF DRAGONS, TOWARDS US TAPERING
The surprise rate cut in Europe. Better than expected data on US GDP (+2,8% against a forecast of 1,9%) and on claims for unemployment benefits in a Wall Street intoxicated by the flight of Twitter +73% at its debut on Wall Street. All this on the eve of the most awaited data of the week, the one on the trend of employment in October.
A bit of everything happened on Thursday 7 November, so as to change the sensations of operators on market flows: the USA, in particular, seem more ready for December's tapering, a forecast which pushed the markets downwards. In Tokyo, the index lost more than one percentage point. Hong Kong - 0,6% and Shanghai - 1,1% are also down on the eve of the CCP plenum that opens tomorrow. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones index fell 0,94% to 15.598,28, the S&P 500 1,3% to 1.747 and the Nasdaq 1,9% to 3.857,33.
In the meantime, the debut of Twitter was sensational, rising by 75% at a price of 45 dollars a share after having reached a maximum of 50, almost double the offering price set at 26 dollars.
Shortly before the IPO, the president of the SEC Mary Jo White had warned the market about the prospects of technological companies a few hours after the debut of social networks: "It is not said that companies with large numbers of "users" are able to transform these numbers into as many profits”. Wall Street, for now, hasn't listened to her.
The other European Stock Exchanges also fell: London -0,6%, Paris -0,1%, Madrid -0,9%. The only exception, in the opposite sense, is Germany: Frankfurt finished up +0,4%, as per logic after a drop in the cost of money.
Instead, the most marked drop was recorded in Piazza Affari: the index closed down by 2% after a day of high volatility. In mid-morning, the Ftse Mib fell by 0,9% then, following the news of the rate cut in the Eurozone, it rose by 1%.
Thanks to the rate cut, the yield on the 10-year BTP fell during the day from 4,20% to 4,08%, the spread narrowed to 240 (-5 basis points). Futures on the ten-year German Bund rose sharply (141,7) following Mario Draghi's words about a prolonged period of very low inflation. The yield slips just below 1,7%.
TELECOM, ADIOS ARGENTINA. AND HERE COMES THE CONVERTENDO
Telecom Italy it fell yesterday by 4,2% while a board marathon was underway, the first after Bernabé. Here are the most important resolutions, illustrated in the evening by Patuano, supported by the general director Piergiorgio Peluso:
– First of all, the sale of Telecom Argentina for around one billion euros and of the towers in Italy and Brazil. Operations which, added to a 1,3 billion euro convertible bond, reach a value of 4 billion euro. The board of directors also confirmed the process of unbundling the network, through a "functional unbundling" of the same. That is, the de facto block to the corporate spin-off process of the same. Finally, Telecom will not distribute dividends from ordinary shares in 2014 as declared by CEO Piergiorgio Peluso.
– Brazil is not selling, at least for now. Patuano underlined that "there are other salable assets such as real estate," we have for 1 billion euros. "We have started selling properties - he revealed - one in Milan for which we have agreed on a price of around 75 million euros payable by the end of January", referring to the headquarters in via Negri. Finally, nothing has been decided on the date for calling the meeting requested by Marco Fossati.
Telecom Italia closed the first nine months of 2013 with revenues of 20,3 billion euros, down by 7,6% compared to the same period of 2012 or by 2,1% in organic terms. Ebitda fell by 10,5% to 7,9 billion (-6,9% in organic terms), while profit for the period attributable to shareholders was negative by 902 million (1,9 billion the result of the same period of 2012) and discounts the goodwill write-down of the domestic business for approximately 2,2 billion made in the first six months of 2013. Net of this write-down, the result was positive for 1,3 billion.
In the third quarter alone, profit was 505 million (-27,4%). Investments amounted to 3,4 billion (+2,2%), while adjusted net debt fell to 28,2 billion, down by 1,2 billion compared to the end of September 2012 and by 584 million in just the third quarter. Net book debt at the end of September fell by 599 million compared to the end of June, settling at 29,1 billion.
ENEL, FINMECCANICA AND GENERALI GIVE THE NUMBERS
Enel fell by 2,3%. The accounts for the third quarter closed with a net profit of 655 million, down 31,0% compared to 949 million in the same period of 2012.
Commenting on the results, the CEO Fulvio Conti says he is convinced that he can achieve “the EBITDA and net ordinary income objectives already communicated for the current year. In addition, asset sales and hybrid bond issuance for more than half of the program suggest an improvement to the $42 billion net borrowing target originally set for 2013. Third-quarter 2013 sales amounted to to 18,992 billion, down by 2,215 billion.
Finmeccanica –2,51%. Due to the crisis of the subsidiary Ansaldo Breda, the group led by Alessandro Pansa closed the first 9 months of the year with a loss of 136 million compared to the net profit of 141 million recorded in the same period of 2012. In the third quarter alone, the result it was a negative $73 million versus profits of $74 million reported in the same period last year.
However, 2013 should close with a positive consolidated result also thanks to the closing of the sale of AnsaldoEnergia. "Compared with an original forecast of EBITDA of 1,1 billion, equivalent to approximately 1 billion excluding the contribution of Ansaldo Energia, a reduction of approximately 5-10% is currently expected", announced the company.
Generali –2,7% despite a quarterly performance above expectations: net profit of 510 million (1,6 billion in the first nine months with an increase of 40,4%).
The operating result stands at 3,4 billion and grows by 6,2%, thanks to the effect of the non-life segment (20,3%), says a note. Total premiums amounted to 49 billion (+0,6%), of which 32,8 billion in Life (+0,9%) and 16,2 billion in Non-Life (+0,1%) with a combined ratio which improves to 95,1% (-1,6 points) despite an impact from catastrophic events of 0,5 points.
Solvency I at the end of September stood at 143%, while at the end of October it rose further to 152% thanks also to the sale of minorities in Mexico and US assets. For 2013, the group confirms the estimate of "an improvement in the overall operating result, in homogeneous terms".
RAIN OF SALES ON BPM PUNISHED BY S&P
Between banks Unicredit -3,3% and Intesa -2,8%. Mount Paschi -3,4% Mediobanca -2,8%. Black Jersey a Banca Popolare di Milano finished down 4,9%. Yesterday evening Standard & Poor's downgraded its rating, Société Générale revised its rating to "sell" Fondiaria Sai -3,3%. Oil prices are down: Saipem -4,5% Eni -2%. Tenaris -2,8%.
There are signs of resilience only in the segment of the industry from Pirelli +2,7% and Industrial Driver's License +1,4%. Outside the main basket, RCS continued to lose share -6%, down from two sessions, after the flare-up recorded for the announcement of the sale of the buildings in Brera. On the other hand, Maire Tecnimont +7% and Irce +8% caught fire.
