Vaccines are approaching, but, in the meantime, the climb to recovery is increasingly steep. Data on US consumption for October confirmed the fragility of the recovery. The same situation in Europe: according to Confcommercio estimates, for example, Italian consumption fell again in October by 8,1% on an annual basis. And so, once the excellent but by now obvious news of the progress of Moderna and Pfizer, which allowed an 11% rise in the Morgan Stanley indices since the beginning of the month, the markets take a step back. Small, because Jay Powell took care of avoiding slips: the president of the Fed intervened to confirm that the Central Bank believes that new interventions to support the economy are needed in the short term. Meanwhile, abundant liquidity is fueling the Bitcoin boom, also supported by Paypal's decision to allow payments in cryptocurrencies. Speaking of central banks, the US Senate yesterday rejected Donald Trump's latest appointment to the Fed that of the "pasionaria" Judith Shelton, a loyalist of the outgoing President, barricaded inside the White House but already undermined by the feared requests of the first lady Melania . In this context, the markets are heading for a "quiet" session. Ideal for appreciating homegrown blue chips, yesterday among the best stocks.
In Asia, the Tokyo Nikkei is down 1,1% this morning. On parity the Sensex of Mumbai and the Kospi of Seoul. Instead, the stock markets of China rose: Hong Kong +0,4%, CSI 300 of the Shanghai and Shenzen lists +0,5%.
Sales on domestic government bonds continue, with the 3,31-year yield reaching 2019%, the highest since May XNUMX, now a popular alternative in the West, exhausted by the shower of sub-zero bonds.
This morning Sinovac Biotech provided the results of phase II of its vaccine for the Coronavirus: the partial results are already positive, even if it is not yet possible to establish the degree of effectiveness. CoronaVac is well tolerated and able to stimulate the affected immune system.
Wall Street futures are down. Yesterday evening the S&P500 closed down 0,5%, Dow -0,28%, Nasdaq moved little -0,21%.
Firms that operate pharmacies, such as Walgreen Boots (-9%), fell sharply following theAmazon's entry into the online sale of medicines. Tesla (+8,2%) celebrated its entry into the S&P index.
Brent oil down slightly to 43,6 dollars a barrel. Reuters, which interviewed five analysts on the subject, wrote this morning that the large Chinese importers of crude oil, after having expanded their storage warehouses, will soon return to buying.
EUROPE IS HOLDING DOWN, NO
Even in the Old Continent the Modern effect it didn't last the time of one session. The European Stock Exchanges, after an initial thrill, immediately curbed their enthusiasm, in the belief that the months to come will be complicated. The exception was Piazza Affari, tonic and lively under the pressure of the banks and the constant improvement of the spread. But the real news concerns cryptocurrencies, which have returned, without fanfare, to center stage.
BITCOIN IS BACK IN FASHION: +1.500 DOLLARS IN TWO DAYS
Yesterday the price of Bitcoin skyrocketed for the second consecutive session, gaining $1.500 in less than 48 hours and approaching its all-time high. It is an eloquent sign of investors' return to risk appetite, who on the one hand take advantage of the abundant liquidity in circulation, and on the other hunt for assets less exposed to central bank control. And so yesterday evening, at the end of the session in Europe, bitcoin was worth $17.502, approaching the prices of the end of 2017, when the cryptocurrency had reached its all-time high at $19.041.
BREXIT ONE STEP AWAY. THE FIRST TIME OF EASYJET IN RED
Milan (+0,55%, at 21.435 points, the highest since March) scored the third consecutive rise. But if you look at the last ten sessions, the index has closed with the plus sign eight times.
London -0,94%. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told key ministers that reaching a trade deal with the European Union is all but certain, and that time is running out very soon. But, writes Bloomberg, EU and UK negotiators could be close to reaching an agreement on post-Brexit relations by early next week. Meanwhile, according to the latest Pew Research Center poll, 60% of Britons now have a favorable opinion of the EU, the highest level ever recorded.
Easyjet, while recording an increase in bookings (+50%) after the vaccine announcements, dropped 2,24%, down 2,24% after having suffered an annual loss of 1,27 for the first time in its history billions of pounds.
Frankfurt moved little (-0,07%). The German government will make a further one billion euros available to support the automotive sector, through subsidies for the development and production of non-polluting vehicles.
Paris +0,21%. Madrid, buoyant at the beginning of the week, fell by 0,67%. BBVA fell 3,5% after announcing merger talks with Banco de Sabadell to create Spain's second-largest national lender by assets. Sabadell closes at +0,4%, after an initial jump of 3,5%.
LUXURY MAKES MORE THAN TECH AND UTILITIES
European Luxury/Retail conquers the palm of best sector since the beginning of the year with a gain of 12,7%, overtaking Tech and Utility, which had led the ranking for a long time. The performance of the global Stoxx since the beginning of 2020 is still in the red by 5%, weighed down by Banks and Energy, although both are clearly progressing from multi-year lows.
BONDS, LIKE ITALY IN DOLLARS
The spread between Bunds and BTPs at the lowest since April 2018 at 118 basis points. The placement of Italy's dollar bond is going very well. The 2026 loan has already received orders for $4,5 billion and the yield has been revised. The yield of the ten-year BTP is around 0,60%.
Support for government bonds also comes from the ECB which, last week, significantly increased purchases through the Pepp emergency fund, returning to a rate of just over 20 billion euros, from around 14 billion the previous week. The increase confirms that Frankfurt wants to avoid excessive hikes in government rates in Europe.
UNIPOL (+4,14%) AT THE TOP, MEDIOBANCA SHINES
The pink jersey of the day went to Unipol, up 4,14% in the wake of the rally that began last week, after quarterly results above expectations.
On the banking side, Mediobanca (+3,19%), Banco Bpm (+2,55%) and Unicredit (+1,63%) shine.
GENERALI, INVESTOR DAY AT THE START
The big names on the Milanese list came to light with earnings above 1%. Among these, Generali, which is holding its investor day today.
Good performances for Eni (+1,67%) and Tenaris (+1,82%). Poste Italiane +1,56%. Among the utilities, a setback for Hera (-2,05%). Among the pharmaceuticals, Recordati fared poorly, closing down by 1,21%. Diasorin +0,12%. Among the mid caps, Ovs (+8,47%) and Datalogic (+4,24%) stand out.
AVIO COLLAPSES AFTER FLOP TOS
Outside the main basket, note the fall of Avio (-16%). The space launcher manufacturing group announced that during the night, during the Vega VV17 mission carrying the Seosat-Ingenio and Taranisi satellites, an anomaly occurred which led to the premature termination of the mission.
