The Stock Exchanges are traveling below parity after the rally of the last few sessions. After the emotions of a very difficult month amidst the winds of war and tensions on interest rates linked to central banks, operators are now looking to the first quarter maturities when they will have to publish the first report card of the financial year, eagerly awaited by investors, anxious to understand how their handlers knew how to weather the storms.
Strong adjustment of portfolios by the end of the month
Meanwhile, the latter are grappling with wallet arrangement, also in the light of the statutes, an element that plays a decisive role when the deadlines of the calendar are approaching: the funds, especially the balanced ones, must respect a precise mix between shares and bonds, which is not easy in exceptional circumstances such as those just experienced.
Just think of the negative surprise of the cancellation of Russian bonds in portfolio that forced BlackRock to write off $17 billion in value. Or the worries of Norges Bank, the Norwegian central bank which manages the gigantic 1.300 billion dollar sovereign wealth fund. The giant that administers the Scandinavian country's pensions, after the sharp collapse of the stock markets in late February and early March, had to restore the right mix of shares and bonds in its gigantic portfolio, a 22 billion dollar operation. According to JP Morgan collectively balanced funds, pension funds and sovereign funds were forced to buy shares for a total of 230 billion dollars by the end of March just to rebalance their portfolios.
Exceptional migrations of capital and flight from Europe
In short, the shock of the Russian attack caused exceptional migrations of capital, with the initial exit from stock portfolios, especially European ones, and an increase in exposure to the bond markets. But the tightening of the Fed and other central banks (with the exception of Japan) has also encouraged a small earthquake in open positions on bonds. Phenomena that partly explain the rises in the stock markets in recent days which, judging by the reflexive performance of the morning, seem to have run out by now, as well as the tensions on the bond markets. Only oil remains in great turmoil: +2,6% driven by expectations of new sanctions against Russia and the news that the vital Black Sea terminal could be disrupted for the next few weeks due to a storm. The waters of stock exchanges were much less troubled, including Wall Street futures.
Milan stock exchange focuses on Saipem, Leonardo and Telecom Italia
In Piazza Affari, down by about half a point, attention is focused on a few corporate issues:
- First of all the future recovery of Saipem, almost +7% pending the restructuring plan that will be announced on Friday. The shareholders Eni, CDP and a syndicate of banks are ready to advance 1,5 billion euros of a future total capital increase of 2 billion euros. This was reported by two sources on Tuesday, adding that at the moment the volatility due to the war in Ukraine does not allow a recapitalization to be launched on the market.
- Effervescent Leonardo + 2,6% at the center of the Defense projects that will be addressed by the next European summit.
- Telecom Italia also stands out +1,2%: the response letter from KKR to TIM's request for information on the structure and terms of the offer is expected for today. Reuters anticipates it, explaining that it will be an interlocutory step in the context of the formal dialogue launched after the Board meeting on 13 March. In the meantime, it is done under CVC, the fund interested in particular in ServCo, the service company that should form one of the two legs of Tim descending from the Labriola plan which will include Noovle, Olivetti, Telsy, mobile, business and consumer and Tim Brazil.
