The disappointing numbers from the economy of United States they are not enough to give breath to the European stock exchanges. Investors are still looking with fear at the next meeting of the Fed, which next week will clarify its intentions on the start of tapering, ie the program with which stimuli to the economy will be progressively reduced.
On the labor front, in the week ending 6 December initial claims for unemployment benefits they stood at 368 units in the US, well above analysts' expectations (who had forecast an increase to 320 units) and up on the figure recorded the previous week (300 units, revised from 298). The total number of people claiming unemployment benefits stands at 2,791 million, higher than the expected 2,750 million. The previous figure was also revised upwards, from 2,744 to 2,751 million.
As for trade, in November the prices of imported products in the United States they fell for the second consecutive month. The figure marks a drop of 0,6% compared to October, while expectations spoke of a drop of 0,5%. On an annual basis, the decline was 1,5%. In detail, the decline is linked to the reduction in oil prices: excluding oil, import prices rose by 0,1%.
Finally, again in November in the USA retail sales they rose 0,7% to $434,1 billion. In this case, the figure is above the expectations of analysts, who had foreseen a rise of 0,6%. On an annual basis, however, there was a 4,7% increase. The "core" figure, i.e. retail sales ex auto, marked an increase of 0,4%, while the trend growth was equal to 3,5%.
In the aftermath of the worst session in almost two months for Dow Jones and the S&P 500, Wall Street prepares to open below parity. Futures are in negative territory, but are trimming losses after the release of data on retail sales and jobless benefits (disappointing from a real economy point of view, but positive for those who think they could ward off the prospect of "tapering"): Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq drop 0,1%. Oil rose by 0,23% in January to 97,66 dollars a barrel, while gold dropped 1,85% to 1.234 dollars an ounce in February.
In the same minutes, Business square 0,7%, London 0,6%, Frankfurt 0,4% and Paris 0,2%. Spread Btp-Bund up slightly, to 226 points.
On the Ftse Mib the most visible titles are those of Ansaldo Sts (+2,44%), A2a (+2,31%), Pirelli & C (+1,46%), Luxottica (+1,15%) and Buzzi Unicem (+0,82% ). At the bottom of the list Banca Pop Emilia Romagna (-3,30%), Autogrill (-2,72%), Prysmian (-2,65%), Banco Popolare (-2,61%) and World Duty Free (-2,59. XNUMX%).
In Piazza Affari they are weak the banks, with the spread rising to 227 basis points, penalized by rumors according to which the ECB could ask EU banks to acquire an additional capital buffer, to cover the exposure in government bonds. A decision which, according to analysts, would penalize Italian institutions, primarily Bpm (-1,56%) and Ubi (-1,22%).
On the currency market, the euro trades at 1,37825 dollars (1,3785 yesterday) and 141,575 yen (141,29), while the dollar/yen stands at 102,715 (102,46). Petroleum at 97,73 dollars per barrel (+0,30%).
