The historic collapses of German and American GDP are sinking world stock exchanges, also weighed down by the results of giants in the oil sector, such as Eni -7,04%. Piazza Affari closes down by 3,28% and fell to 19.228 basis points, with all blue chips in the red except Prysmian +0,05%.
The black jersey goes to Frankfurt -3,52%, but Madrid -2,9%, Paris -2,13% and London -2,26% also sink.
Wall Street, playing out of tune, is looking for ideas to stem the declines and the Nasdaq is moving around parity, with Big Tech companies Alphabet, Apple, Facebook and Amazon in recovery since the start, waiting to present their accounts.
Meanwhile Donald Trump, via Twitter, proposes to postpone the US elections, because "with universal mail-in voting, the 2020 election will be the most inaccurate and fraudulent in history".
In short, Covid 19 shows its worst face both on the real economy and on the political front and from the growing number of infections in the world there is the fear that the vaccine will arrive after too much damage. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson invites his fellow citizens not to "deceive themselves that it's over. We're not out of danger, we don't think it's over, because it's not." Johnson, quoted by The Daily Telegraph, notes that there is new growth of the virus in Europe, which raises fears of a second wave. Trust does not abound even in Italy: according to research conducted by Grant Thornton, an international consultancy firm, only 23% of Italian companies are optimistic about economic recovery within the next 12 months.
And the bill paid so far is already very salty. Germany, the locomotive of Europe, in the second quarter recorded a record drop in growth of 10,1%, against expectations of -9%. The United States, the locomotive of the world, lost 32,9%, a cyclopean percentage, although forecasts were even worse. The government also confirmed the first quarter performance at -5%. Unemployment claims are also slightly below the consensus, but are exceeding one million in the 19th week in a row. As Jerome Powell said yesterday "The coronavirus represents the greatest shock to the US economy ever recorded in living memory". Oil is depressed along the chain, fearing a further collapse in demand: Brent drops by 2,5% and trades at around 43 dollars a barrel. Even gold today retreats slightly from the peaks reached and trades in the red at 1942 dollars an ounce.
On the currency market, the euro moved little against the dollar, with the exchange rate very close to 1,18. In Italy, awaiting tomorrow's GDP data, Istat reveals that 752 jobs were lost in one year (-3,2%) and the number of inactive people reached 899. Compared to pre-Covid, 600 jobs have been lost. A general climate that can only pour negatively on Piazza Affari, also grappling with the accounts of important big caps.
In the foreground is Eni, which showed an adjusted net loss of 714 million euros in the second quarter due to write-downs linked to the drop in the price of crude oil. The group has announced the cut of the dividend starting from 2020 linked to the price of Brent which offers a base value of 0,36 euros per share. At the beginning of 2020 Eni announced a dividend of 0,89 euros for the year.
Saipem remains subject to strong sales, -6,55%, after yesterday's crash following the second quarter results below expectations. Since the beginning of the year, the shares of the engineering company controlled by Eni and Cdp have been in the red by 56%.
The quarterly weighs on Generali, -5,11%, in an insurance sector in sharp decline throughout Europe. The collapse of Lloyds -7,6% in London is felt, which closed the half year in the red due to the heavy reserves to deal with the coronavirus emergency. Unipol -5,73%. In the wake of Banca Generali -5,39%.
The declines are heavy for the banking sector with Banco Bpm -5,34% and Unicredit -4,94%. Mediobanca, -2,7%, closed the 2019-2020 financial year with a net profit of 600 million, down 27% compared to a year earlier. The result discounts non-recurring charges of 285 million, 80% due to Covid (228 million), but is higher than the 587 million expected by the consensus provided by the company. Piazzetta Cuccia also aligns with the ECB's recommendation and does not pay the coupon
Fiat, -3,94%, in a global context where Volkswagen (-5,4% in Frankfurt) recorded a loss of 1,4 billion in six months and cut its dividend. Renault (-9,26% in Paris) closed the semester with a record loss of 7,3 billion.
The utilities are not saved either: Enel -2,98%, although it closed the six-month period with a 5,6% increase in net profit and confirmed the coupon. Bonds are floating: the spread between Italian and German ten-year bonds closes at 151 basis points (+1,25%), with a drop in yields. The rate of the BTP falls to 0,96%.
