Try it again Europe. The confrontation between the Greek minister Yannis Varoufakis and the Eurogroup partners ended after six hours of discussions with nothing done: Athens insists on a renegotiation of the debt, Brussels can grant extensions but not call into question the obligations assumed by Greece. The parties are so distant for now that they have agreed to meet again only on Monday. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will make his debut today at the EU summit.
European markets experienced a day of uncertainty awaiting the outcome of the summit. During the night the euro fell in Asia to 1,301 against the dollar before recovering to 1,1310. A difficult start is looming for the price lists of the Old Continent.
In Milan, the FtseMib index fell by 0,77%. The Paris Stock Exchange lost 0,4%, London -0,3%, Madrid -1,2%, closing unchanged for Frankfurt. In sharp decline Athens (-4%). Greek 11-year bond yields are back close to 10%, after falling below 18% last week. The rates on three-year bonds are 16% and those on five-year bonds above 13%. In the 1,37-week bond auction, 2,50 billion was raised at XNUMX%.
Oil is down again: Brent falls by 2,5% to 54,9 dollars a barrel, Wti to 48,9 dollars (-2,2%). The decline in crude oil influenced the prices of Eni -2,1% and Saipem -2,9%. Raymond James reduced the target price from 9,6 to 7,6 euro, confirming the underperform rating. Tenaris -0,3%.
APPLE OF MIRACLES: SINCE 1980 EARN 50.600%
Asian stock markets were weak with the exception of the Tokyo market, closed on Tuesday. The Nikkei index reports a rise of 1,6%. Wall Street is holding up well, despite the increasingly dangerous Ukrainian crisis: the Dow Jones index closes at parity (-0,04%), the S&P 500 -0,08%, Nasdaq up 0,28%. The Times Square listing is favored by the performance of Apple: +2,2% to 124 dollars for a market capitalization of more than 700 billion dollars (the entire Piazza Affari is worth 400 billion).
Carl Icahn (raider and major shareholder of Apple) has revised upwards the judgment on Apple: his target has risen to 230 dollars: the P/E of the giant is 10 times against the average of 17 for the rest of the list. Since its entry on the Stock Exchange, in 1980 the Apple share has achieved a rise of 50.600%.
TODAY THE BTP AUCTION 7. THE GERMAN SCHATZ AT AUCTION AT -0,22%
Despite the tensions over Greece, the debt market continues to break records, awaiting the start of QE. Yesterday, the Italian Treasury placed 7 billion 12-month BOTs, at an all-time low yield of 0,209%. Meanwhile, the German Schatz recorded a negative yield at auction, equal to -0,22% less than the current rate on deposits with the ECB (-0,20%). Portugal, oblivious to the effects of the Greek crisis, placed 1,25 billion of ten-year securities at an average rate of 2,51%.
This morning Italy returns to the auction with medium-long term securities: between 6,25 and 8 billion in 3- and 15-year BTPs and in the new 7-year April 2022 for which good demand is excellent.
SIENA BURNED 5 BILLION. THE INCREASE WILL BE BY ANOTHER 3
Piazza Affari will have to deal with the bank balance sheet results announced after the markets are closed. In the spotlight, in particular, Monte Paschi, yesterday -1,3% before announcing the massive fourth quarter cleaning operation imposed by the European Supervisory Authority. The loss, amounting to 5,343 billion, fully absorbs the capital increase of 5 billion euro carried out last summer. The revision of the methodologies and parameters for the valuation of the loan portfolio, the write-down of goodwill and other non-recurring components contributed to the result.
The Bank will proceed with a capital increase of 3 billion against the 2,5 billion already announced. The operation, assisted by a pre-guarantee from the consortium which had already subscribed to the increase for 2,5 billion, will take place within the second quarter. “How can one be happy?” a councilor replied to reporters as he left the board of directors. No comment from the president, Alessandro Profumo.
GREAT CLEANING EVEN AT THE POPULAR BANK
Also under examination is Banco Popolare (+0,49%) which published its accounts in the evening. Also in this case, under pressure from the European Supervisory Authority, the cleanup route was chosen: the Bank closed 2014 with a loss of 1,946 billion euros, tripled compared to the loss of 606 million the year before, due to the extraordinary adjustments to loans amounting to 3,561 billion euro (compared to 1,691 billion in 2013), of which 2,496 billion in the fourth quarter alone. The consensus had forecast a loss of around 31 million in the twelve months to 900 December.
THE RUBLE WEIGHTS ON UNICREDIT
Unicredit's accounts (-4,02%) are weighed down by the difficulties of Eastern Europe: the impact was around 1,1 billion euro, i.e. 26 basis points, of which 950 million relating to Russia (due to the devaluation of the ruble) and the rest to Ukraine. The capital will soon be reconstituted both thanks to the generation of profits and with some M&A operations, see the closing of the agreement with Santander for the creation of a common asset manager between Pioneer Investments and Santander Asset Management. The Board has given the go-ahead for the sale of Uccmb to Fortress. Instead, the 8,66% stake in Mediobanca, the CEO Federico Ghizzoni reiterated, is considered strategic in the medium-long term.
The Bank has decided to distribute a dividend of 12 euro cents, proposing, however, the "scrip dividend", ie the coupon in shares or, upon request, in cash. last year 75% of shareholders took stock and 25% cash.
SPOTLIGHTS ON UBI TODAY, THUD OF UNIPOL
Among the other banks 2014. Intesa rises by 0,3%. Among the popular ones, Pop.Milano is advancing +1%: Société Générale has cut the rating on the stock from buy to hold, removing it from the mid&small caps premium list, while raising the target price from 0,70 to 0,75 euro. Kepler Cheuvreux also raised the target price from 0,71 to 0,73 euro (hold) and the latest Consob communications on significant equity investments showed that since 5 February Norges Bank has held 2,048% of the capital
Ubi decreased (-1,18%): the men of the currency police unit of the Guardia di Finanza instead carried out new searches in the Bergamo offices of the institute which today will publish the 2014 accounts.
Finally, the Treasury has placed Banca Etruria in the commissariat at the request of the Bank of Italy.
In the insurance field, the heavy loss of Unipol (-6,73%) should be noted, despite a three-digit growth in profits in 2014 (+168% to 505 million): the markets were expecting profits and a higher coupon (17 cents euro the dividend proposed by the Board of Directors).
NOW THE ROBIN HOOD TAX, SNAM AND TERNA CELEBRATE
The happy note concerns utilities, galvanized by the Constitutional Court's rejection of the Robin Hood Tax, the 6,5% IRES surcharge established in 2008 which weighs on the oil and energy sector. Snam gained 3%, to 4,248 euros, the best blue chip of the day. Terna, in second place, closed at +2,3%. Playing in anticipation, already in the morning Citigroup raised the rating of Snam from neutral to buy (target price from 4 to 4,4 euro) and of Terna from sell to buy (target price from 3,2 to 4,15 euro) .
