Markets closed for the holidays around the world this morning. But in a few hours there will be an unusual early rise for brokers on the American West Coast. In fact, this morning, at 8 am New York time (in Italy it will be 14 pm) the Labor Department will communicate the monthly data on employment. From that moment, stock traders will have 45 minutes to trade futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange which will close its doors at 9:15 am local time. For the brokers in Los Angeles and San Francisco, therefore, this morning's working hours range from 5 to 6 in the morning. The London operations rooms will also remain open between 1,30pm and 2pm, to keep in touch with Chicago, which invented the shortest mini session in the history of finance, as long as a time of a football match.
In yesterday's session, meanwhile, the US markets buffered the fall of the previous daysHowever, the S&P index -0,06% closed below 1.400 points (1398, 08). The Dow Jones lost 0,11%. The Nasdaq is on positive ground +0,40%.
This morning there Tokyo Stock Exchange it closed the week with a further decline, in line with the negative trend of the other Asian markets. The Nikkei 225 index is down by 0,70%.
Meanwhile, Piazza Affari takes stock of the shortest but also the most devastating week of the year. In a week of just four sessions, the FtseMib index fell by 4,7%, almost canceling out all the gains from the beginning of the year: there is now only a slim +0,8%. Only the recovery in the final allowed the FtseMib index to close yesterday with a slight drop (-0,2%) a session in which it had lost almost 2%. The London Stock Exchange rose by 0,3%, Paris +0,1%, Frankfurt -0,1%. The overall European Stoxx 600 index closed the week down by 1,6% and has maintained a gain of 5,9% since the beginning of the year. the yield on ten-year BTPs closed the week of passion at 5,42% from 5,08% on Monday. The spread with the Bund widened by almost 40 points to 369. Meanwhile, the spread of the Spanish Bono with the Bund exceeded 400 points, a level it hadn't touched since last December 12th.
Several factors contributed to complicating the path of the Italian stock exchange more than other lists:
- the Spanish public finance crisis. On Wednesday, Madrid failed to place all the 3,5 billion government bonds scheduled, and still had to agree to pay higher yields than the previous auction. Yesterday, France also experienced unprecedented difficulties in placing a tranche of 8,5 billion Oat. On Monday, the Financial Times wrote about an EU document discussed at the last Eurogroup in Copenhagen, which says that Italy must prepare to launch a new budget adjustment manoeuvre;
- the renewed skepticism of international investors regarding the solidity and effective political strength of the Monti government. Furthermore, on Tuesday the Financial Times spoke of an EU document, discussed at the last Eurogroup in Copenhagen, which says that Italy must prepare to launch a new manoeuvre. The denials of Rome and Brussels arrived on time, but the slowdown in GDP scares operators more than it reassures efforts on needs.
Then there are elements common to all markets which explain a slowdown that is in any case less marked than in Italy. In particular, the minutes of the last meeting of the FOMC, the monetary policy committee, show that the US central bank excludes new extraordinary initiatives to support economic growth.
Rcs Media Group share boom +20,86% after Diego Della Valle's break. Given the small size of the free float, exchanges of 2,1 million pieces were enough to cause the leap in Piazza Affari. But the market has nonetheless taken seriously the warning of the Tod's entrepreneur (“I continue the battle with my hands free”). Meanwhile, it became known that the search for the new CEO was entrusted to headhunter Spencer Stuart.
On the wave of sovereign debt difficulties the banking sector suffers again. A crisis to which a very skeptical S&P report on the sector's possible operating profits contributed. The balance sheet for the week is thus in deep red: Banco Popolare -13%, Unicredit -12%, Banca Pop. Milan -11%, MontePaschi -10%, Intesa -8,5%. To limit ourselves to Thursday's session, Unicredit lost 3,1%, Banco Popolare -2,4%, MontePaschi -4,9%.
Palladio and Sator insist. Yesterday a complaint was presented to the Antitrust which was asked to evaluate "within the scope of its competence, various anti-competitive profiles and effects". There are two "hot" aspects of the story: the concentration that would be created with the Fonsai-Unipol merger; the role of some subjects, in particular Unicredit and Mediobanca, financiers of the companies involved in the operation but also creators and directors of the same. With the complaint Palladio and Sator, as "interested parties" will be able to participate in the preliminary investigation phases already started by the Antitrust and thus have access to documents, present briefs and request a hearing before the Authority.
Good recovery of industrial stocks: Fiat +3,6%, Fiat Industrial +4,7%. Sergio Marchionne on the sidelines of the shareholders' meeting explained that the group is working to make the most of the US subsidiary CNH. StM +3,5% and Tenaris +1,8% are on the rise.
Analysts, from Chevreux to Equita via Kepler, are unanimous: in the end EDF will agree to pay the extra 50 million (on a 840 million deal) imposed for the purchase of Edison by the Consob decision. A relatively modest burden, perhaps partly borne by Delmi's Italian shareholders, which in any case entails less damage than other solutions, including the auction, which would postpone the closing of the transaction already set for June over time. But Henry Proglio, who telephoned Corrado Passera yesterday, suggests that the French giant (engaged in the much more pressing issue of the accident at the Prenly nuclear power plant) will not exclude any option.
