Even the new financial week opens under the banner of the bridge that no longer exists. The (rejected) offers from Atlantia and the executive's willingness to proceed with the revocation of the concession, as reiterated by various government officials, are being examined by the market. The Minister of Transport, Danilo Toninelli, went so far as to ask for the company to be nationalised. It yielded no results the Autostrade offer: half a billion euros for the reconstruction of the collapsed viaduct and the damaged houses.
According to the Fitch Ratings agency, it is still premature to assess the effects on the creditworthiness of Atlantia ('BBB+'/RWN) and of the subsidiary Autostrade per l'Italia ('A-'/RWN) of the collapse of the bridge. Against the background of the drama in Genoa, the concerns of operators, especially international ones, are growing about the future of the Italian company, on the eve of the first autumn tests: Fitch's report card on the maneuver will arrive on August 31st, and on September 7th it will be the turn of Moody's. Meanwhile, the spread restarts from 281 points.
WSJ: ITALY RISKS CAPITAL FLIGHT
Meanwhile, Greece today officially comes out of the eight-year commissionership. It's the end of Athens' financial bailout program. Meanwhile, according to the WSJ, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other EU leaders are discussing the next steps to strengthen the monetary union.
And the Wall Street Journal takes the opportunity to issue a warning to Italy: “The growth of the Italian debt and the new attacks against the European establishment by politicians in Rome suggest that, after the Greek crisis, the specter of a destabilizing flight of capital from a country in the area. A first test will come this autumn, when the new populist Italian government will have to present the budget law". The article elicited a piqued reply from Matteo Salvini. More calmly, undersecretary Giancarlo Giorgetti has called for the continuation of BTP purchases by the ECB beyond the end of Qe
THE LIRA TUCA HOLDS THANKS TO QATAR AFTER THE DOWNGRADES
Recep Erdogan also takes issue with international speculation, but warns that "no one will bring us down". Thus the president replies to the decision of the rating agencies to lower Turkey's rating to junk level: Moody's reduced the rating to Ba3, Standard & Poor's to B+. This morning the currency holds its positions around a quotation of 6 against the US currency, thanks to the support of Qatar which guaranteed market support for Turkey on Sunday. But confirming the scorching atmosphere came the news in the morning that several shots were fired at the US embassy in Ankara from a moving car.
TAX WAR: BEIJING DEFENDS STOCK EXCHANGE AND YUAN
The prospect of a new barrage of tariff measures and countermeasures also weighs on the market. The US has announced the arrival of new duties of 25% on imports for 16 billion from Beijing (motorcycles and turbines in the sights). China has already made it known that it will react with similar increases and yesterday invited the banks to increase credit in favor of infrastructure and support for exports, a move on the eve of a crucial week for the rate negotiations that will take place in Washington on deputy trade minister Wang Shouwen.
This morning the stock market and the yuan reacted positively to the government's invitation: the Shanghai listing rose by 0,8%, Hong Kong +0.7%. Beginning of the week without direction for the other stock exchanges in Asia: India goes up (+0,5%), Japan goes down (-0,3%).
The yuan recovered positions against the dollar to 6,8512, moving away from the critical threshold of 7. The currencies of South Korea and India also rebounded.
The euro moves away from the lows of the year reached last week and this morning trades at 1,143 against the dollar.
GOLD STILL IN CRISIS, OIL WEAK
Under the pressure of the dollar, the gold crisis continues, traded at 1.184,48 dollars, at its lowest in 17 years (-9% since the beginning of the year). Raw materials are also weak, including oil: Brent trades at 71,63 euros, Wti at 65,80.
TRUMP WANTS TO ABOLISH THE QUARTERLY
Donald Trump has invited the SEC to study the elimination of quarterly reports. Monitoring every six months would make it possible to reduce costs and, above all, would push the boards to look beyond the very short-term horizon. The president has thus made his own the thesis of Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett, who have been suggesting the reform for some time.
The most powerful central bankers on the planet will debate this and much more from Thursday to Sunday at the usual summer meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the late summer event that has often set the course for central bank orientations. In the spotlight, the rise of the dollar and, consequently, the crisis of emerging currencies.
FED PRESENTS RATE RISE AT JACKSON HOLE
On Wednesday, before the start of work at the Grand Teton resort, the minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting will be made public, from which confirmation of a forthcoming rate hike in September will come. Meanwhile, the differential between the yield on 10-year and two-year US government bonds, which has been declining for days, is once again close to the lows of the last 10 years, on Friday it rose slightly, this morning it was around 25 basis points. The market sells short-term maturities, it remains doubtful that in the medium-long term, interest rates will be higher than current levels.
The macro agenda for the week foresees important data arriving for the Eurozone from the publication of PMI data to the final balance of German GDP for the second quarter.
The calendar of the companies in Piazza Affari has been reduced to the bone: today the voluntary mandatory takeover bid launched by A2A and Lario Reti Holding on the shares of ACSM-AGAM gets underway. The operation will end on 7 September.
