The ECB maintains its ultra-accommodative policy e US inflation rises more than expected, but not enough to scare the markets. The impact of the two awaited appointments on investors thus proves to be quite modest: in Europe the main lists archive, in no particular order, another session of limited variations; Wall Street is compact in fractional rise and the S&P500 also updates its record level at the start, but the increases are in any case around 0,4%.
Government bonds are more sensitive to the issues of the day. In Italy, the spread between ten-year BTPs and Bunds drops, for a few moments below 100, to close at that threshold (-2,23%). The rate of the Italian benchmark stock also fell to +0,75% (from +0,77% yesterday). The jump in industrial production in April, +1,8% compared to March, contributes to the optimism on the country's health: this is the fifth consecutive month of economic growth and the level "exceeds the pre-pandemic levels of February 2020". Istat communicates it, also indicating the very strong trend rebound. After a small flare-up, the rates of American T-Bonds have calmed down and the 1,48-year Stars and Stripes shows a yield of XNUMX%, slightly down on the previous closing.
In the stock market: Piazza Affari loses 0,4%, falling back to 25.638 points, penalized by the sales of industrial stocks and some financial stocks. Among the worst blue chips of the day: Cnh -2,13%; Prysmian -1,95%; Banca Mediolanum -1,83%; Moncler -1,39%. Limit losses to 1,35% Stellantis, which dropped as much as 3% due to the Peugeot investigation in France on diesel emissions. "The news is obviously negative, but the dimensions of the risk at present appear modest," he writes in the daily Equita. Among the news concerning the car cause, we also note the exclusive from Reuters, according to which the government has included in the recovery plan sent to Brussels an allocation of 600 million euros of public funds to build a giga-factory. Rome's intention would be to forge a public-private partnership in order to exceed one billion euros in investments to equip the country with a strategic infrastructure for electric mobility.
Ferrari confirms its decline, -0,51%, after yesterday's losses following the appointment of Benedetto Vigna as CEO. Among the banks the best is Unicredit +0,32%, promoted by Credit Suisse which brought the recommendation to 'outperform' from 'neutral' and the target price to 12,5 euro. Intesa instead leaves 0,59% on the ground, for the opposite reason. Credit Swiss downgraded the stock to neutral, from otuperform. Today's best blue chip is Stm, +1,73%, in a well-bought tech sector throughout Europe. Fractional progress for Buzzi +043% and Eni +0,67%.
Outside the main basket, Fincantieri (+5,12%) toasts the new order from the Indonesian Ministry of Defense for the supply of 6 Fremm class frigates and the modernization and sale of 2 Mistral class frigates. Euforica Somec, +14,53% which in turn acquired new orders for a total value of approximately 100 million euros from Fincantieri for the turnkey construction of glazed envelopes and public areas on nine new generation cruise ships .
Sanlorenzo instead collapsed (-5,06%), after the Holding Happy Life of the Perotti family, the controlling shareholder, sold shares equal to approximately 3% of the capital of the yacht company, through an accelerated bookbuilding procedure, at 24 euros per share.
In the rest of Europe: Frankfurt -0,09%; Paris -0,26%; Amsterdam +0,38%; Madrid -0,25%; London +0,11%. The euro-dollar exchange rate is stable, with the single currency remaining below 1,22. The bloc's currency remained stable following the ECB's monetary policy meeting, in which the bank confirmed its stance, albeit improving its economic estimates.
The recovery will accelerate in the second quarter and inflation is picking up mainly due to temporary factors, said the president Christine Lagarde, therefore, at this moment, "a tightening would be premature and would create risks". Therefore "any discussion on the exit from the Pepp (the pandemic emergency purchasing programme) is premature". The ECB revised its growth forecasts for the better for the Eurozone in 2021 and 2022, respectively at +4,6% and +4,7%, keeping 2023 at +2,1%.
Europe, Lagarde noted, lags far behind the US in its recovery and lags behind on vaccinations, so any withdrawal of support before the US Federal Reserve would be seen as a dangerous signal.
Now the spotlight is shifting to next week's US central bank meeting. Meanwhile, the expected data on consumer prices grew more than expected (+0,6% compared to April and +5% compared to a year earlier, the fastest pace since August 2008), while the The number of Americans filing new jobless claims fell last week to its lowest level in nearly 15 months.
At an international level, there is concern about the blocking of cargo ships, in front of the port of Yantian in southern China, due to coronavirus infections, especially for fears of the Indian variant (or delta, if you prefer). With a domino effect, the blockade of the port of Yantian soon had repercussions on the Chinese satellite ports and the entire world delivery system began to feel the effects of the Chinese crisis. To the point that the situation could prove to be more serious than that of Suez, when traffic was blocked in March by the failure of the Ever Given container ship.
Still on the Covid front, Bloomberg reports that G7 leaders will ask a new and transparent investigation of the WHO on the origins of the dreaded virus. The raw materials are not moved. Oil, like Brent, is moving slightly higher above $72 a barrel. Fractional declines for metals. However, spot gold is slightly positive, above 1892 dollars an ounce.
Among the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin trades up about 2%., above 37 thousand dollars, still benefiting from yesterday's announcement by the government of El Salvador to elect the digital currency as the country's official currency. Definitely dissatisfied with the choice is the International Monetary Fund (IMF) according to which the decision raises "a series of macroeconomic, financial and legal concerns".
