Il Huawei case lights a fuse on the markets that explodes today like a bomb, also fueled by the collapse in oil. The European stocks close in deep red and accentuate the losses after the declining opening of Wall Street. Frankfurt -3,48%; Paris -3,31%; Madrid -2,75%; London -3,18%; Zurich -3%.
Piazza Affari loses 3,54% and drops below the psychological threshold of 19 points, stopping at 18.643 basis points. The sales storm engulfs all sectors. Financials are among the most penalized, with the Ftse Italia banks index down by 4,2% one hour after the closing, due to the dance of the spread which does not leave a moment of respite. In fact, risk aversion turns again against the Italian paper: the 3,2-year yield rises to 300% and the spread approaches the 297.20-point threshold, stopping at 5 basis points (+XNUMX%).
Wall Street, after the extraordinary stop yesterday for the funeral of former president George Bush senior, goes down with Boeing (-6,2%) and technology. To feed the fear that the fragile truce between the US and China on the tariff front will break is the news from the arrest in Vancouver of the financial director of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, who risks extradition to the US where an investigation is underway to ascertain whether the Chinese giant has violated the sanctions against Iran. Huawei is one of the largest mobile phone manufacturers and has already come under fire from US authorities over security concerns. The arrest, which became known only last night and against which the celestial empire protests, took place on December XNUMXst, the day on which the presidents of the USA and China met in Buenos Aires. Today's data on the US trade deficit for October, the highest in ten years and rising to a record level with China, could also contribute to American hostility towards the Chinese.
The flight from equities favors US government bonds, with the XNUMX-year yield falling for the seventh session in a row and for the third consecutive time it is below 3%. This keeps attention on the flattening of the yield curve between the short and long term, because it could herald a recession, although this drift is not so obvious according to many observers.
Furthermore, tensions are fueled by oil, while in Vienna the producing countries, which will meet Russia tomorrow, for now agree on the need to reduce production, but without establishing the extent of the cuts. Stock prices did not recover even after the better-than-expected data on US weekly inventories. Brent yields 4,24% and falls to 58,95 dollars a barrel; the WTI currently loses 4,59%, 50,46 dollars a barrel.
On the other hand, gold is in tune, moving in the area of 1242,3 dollars an ounce. On the currency front, the euro appreciates against the dollar and the exchange rate is in the 1,137 area. In Piazza Affari, the count of losses on the main list, all in the red, starts with Finecobank -6,77%, which in the afternoon released data on net inflows for November, down sharply compared to the previous month and the same month in 2017 The proliferators are bad, starting with Saipem -6,39%. Diasorin is down, -6,34% after a brilliant debut on the Ftse Mib in the last two sessions and pays for Kepler Cheuvreux's relegation to "hold" from "buy", with a target price reduced to 76 from 100 euros.
Stm sinks -5,99%, with the semiconductor sector. Among the banks the worst is Ubi -5,75%. Telecom sells 3,01%. The press agencies, quoting internal sources, write that today the board of directors has not convened the meeting for the renewal of the auditors, loudly requested by Vivendi. The renewal of the reviewers in advance of the expiry of the current ones is not mandatory, but it is foreseen by the best practices. Fiat -5,1%, after the appointment of Mark Stewart, ex Amazon, as chief operating officer for the North America region. FCA is also in the red in New York. Utilities contain losses.
