The war on inflation and the sanctions arriving on the front of the real war weigh heavily on the financial markets today in anticipation of the publication tonight of the minutes of the last meeting of the US central bank, from which an upcoming squeeze on the cost of money and, even more feared, the reduction in liquidity now guaranteed to the markets by the Fed (about nine trillion dollars).
The result, inevitable, is that today Taurus sees red everywhere turn around: cyclical stocks are losing ground, starting with the auto world, but also technology and even oil, hit by the decline in Chinese demand. The only sectors in positive territory are the insurance companies +0,50% and the utilities. Snam +2,7%, Italgas +1,6% and Unipol +0.7% stand out at the top of the Italian index. Generali -0,9% is still in the red.
Milan Stock Exchange, auto and tech fall
Ma Business Square however, at 13 pm it left around 1,5% on the ground, slipping just above 24,500 points in line with the Eurostoxx and Frankfurt indexes. At the bottom of the main basket are Stellantis - 4,3 and Cnh Industrial -3,3%. Heavy losses for Prysmian -3,5%. Stm -2,5% also loses ground on which Citigroup has cut the target price to 53 euros. In February, global semiconductor sales climbed 32,4% yoy.
Avio exploits: +12,5%
The exploit of Avio +12,5% deserves the first page. Projecting the company into orbit was the agreement between Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Ariane Espace, the French group that will supply the new Ariane 64 rockets for 18 launches into space of satellites of Amazon's Kuiper constellation, whose goal is to bring the internet connections in dead zones in open competition with Elon Musk's Space X. The agreement involves Avio which has always produced boosters (auxiliary engines) for Ariane rockets.
Salt too Saipem +1% which has been awarded new contracts in offshore drilling in the Middle East and West Africa for a total of over 400 million dollars.
Pressure on BTPs, worries the macro picture
The selling pressure on government bonds continues. Ten-year Treasuries are at their highest since 2019, this morning we are at 2,61%, German Bund at 0,63%, BTP at 2,31%, a two-year high. The spread widens to 165 points.
The macro picture is disturbing, with the exception of the USA. China's Caixin index, focused on medium-sized companies, fell to 42 from 50 points, dragged down by the lockdown in Shanghai. Germany is also losing blows, hit by the drop in industrial orders -2,2%. And according to the Ref, Italian growth in 2022 will not exceed 2%, a statistical inheritance from last year from the 3,7% estimated last January.
