Stock markets in the red today, with Milan closing at -0,78%, 19.328 basis points, dragged down by the banks, but partially supported by the boom of Generali +3,94%.
The other European lists were also negative: Madrid -0,8%; Frankfurt -0,73%; London -0,66%; Paris -0,6%. The climate, already cold in the morning, freezes after the opening of Wall Street, with Dow, Nasdaq and S&P down. The American rally, triggered by Donald Trump's victory, stalled on the day of the concrete start of his mandate, even if the president, in a meeting with businessmen in the White House, promises "enormous" tax cuts for the middle class and companies. The dollar fluctuates, pointing lower after being called "too, too strong" by the tycoon. The euro-dollar ratio marks +0,36%, at 1,074. The cost of gold, the safe haven asset par excellence, rose, collecting the fourth consecutive week of increases: +0,63%, 1217.97 dollars an ounce. In the absence of macro data, the operators' attention is concentrated on the quarterly results: McDonald's beats the analysts' estimates with the accounts for the fourth quarter of 2016, but the comparison between the current quarter and the same quarter of 2016 is less favourable; in the oil sector, Halliburton announces above-expected profits, but disappointing revenues.
On the other hand, oil is experiencing a gloomy day: Brent -0,32% to 55,31 dollars a barrel. The signs of a strong recovery in drilling activity in the US are weighing on prices, with weekly data published by Baker Hughes last Friday showing an increase in drilling rigs in North America.
In Piazza Affari, oil companies suffer, Eni -1,54%; Saipem -1,24%; Tenaris -1,23%. Leonardo's splash: -2,92% and Italgas -2,83%. Negative performance for the financial sector: Unicredit -2,79%; Banca Mediolanum -2,58%; Bper -2,35%; Banco Bpm -2,83%; Finecobank -2,31%.
Deep red for Intesa San Paolo -2,91%, which does not benefit from the rumors about Generali. The president of the banking group, Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, releases only a "no comment" on the press hypotheses of an Intesa Sanpaolo-Allianz axis for an aggregation with the Trieste lion. The insurance stock, on the other hand, remained on the shields all day and closed at +3,94%. Its main shareholder Mediobanca also gains in the wake: +1,51%.
Among the few exuberant stocks we find Fiat +1,65% and Ferrari +0,98%. Fashion did well with Yoox, +0,93%, recovering something after last week's slips and Salvatore Ferragamo +1,15%. Creval (+5,32%) flies out of the basket of blue chips, supported by expectations of future mergers with Bper, of which Unipol (+1,59%) is a shareholder with 5%. For this reason, press sources speculate that Unipol Banca will be able to enter the game. Bonds: the spread between the Italian 164.20-year bond and the German bund rises to 2,05 points, +2,01%; XNUMX% yield.
The Italian secondary is a bit under pressure due to the additional maneuver requested by the EU, but other clouds are also gathering on the horizon. In January, inflation in Germany could reach “a good 2%,” according to the Bundesbank. A trend that could rekindle the German controversy over quantitative easing. Mario Draghi says nothing on this point, in Turin to receive the Cavour prize, "for having maintained the independence of the European Central Bank".
Instead, the governor underlines that "international collaboration is the only way to govern problems that national states have not been able to solve on their own for a long time now". Italy in particular "needed Europe to grow, to progress, to 'get better'".
On the other hand, on QE there is a report by Standard & Poor's according to which the ECB will probably extend the program until the first half of 2018 by scaling the pace of the purchases of securities in a "very gradual" way. Latest macro data: consumer confidence in the euro area improves slightly less than expected in January, according to preliminary data from the European Commission.
