European stock markets down in the morning Milan, the FtseMib index loses 0,4%, London and Paris drop by 0,3%, Frankfurt -0,8%. Having overcome the Greek obstacle, Europe rediscovers the R dossier as a recession. February data justifies the alarm: the PMI index flash services in the euro area signals the drop to 49,4 below the 50 points threshold, which signals the watershed between contraction and recovery. The flash manufacturing index goes from 48,8 to 49, still below forecasts. What made the difference was Germany with 50,1 (against a forecast of 51,5). Industrial production beyond the Rhine is growing, but only for past orders, on the contrary new orders are slowing down sharply.
The euro fell slightly to 1,322 against the dollar, from 1,323 at yesterday's close. The ten-year BTP falls, with the yield rising to 5,46% (+9 points). Spread with the Bund at 352 points.
Among the blue chips, the most consistent drop is from Finmeccanica which loses 2,5%, after the 11% leap achieved yesterday at the end of a three-day minirally.
Not all the banks are negative: among those that go down there are Unicredit down by 1,9%, Intesa -1,2%, Ubi -1,3%. Good news comes from the USA for Unicredit. The federal judge in New York rejected the accusations against Bank Austria (subsidiary of Unicredit) coming from lawyers representing some investors who fell victim to Bernard Madoff's scam. For the lawyer Irving Picard, head of appeals for Madoff's clients, this is the second defeat in the legal battle started against the banks involved in the scam.
In the meantime, the race of MontePaschi + 6%, PopMilano +0,7% continues. Generali gains 2,8% supported by the promotion to neutral (from underperform) of Bank of America. Enel drops by 1%: Morgan Stanley has lowered its rating from overweight to equal weight.
The wind arriving from Paris is blowing in Piazza Affari. First of all the car: Peugeot rises by 9% after the company announced the start of negotiations to create a strategic partnership without naming the partner. An open secret because it is well known that the candidate is General Motors. Big movements also in telecommunications: France Telecom rises by 1,4% after announcing the new look on dividends, destined to infect the entire sector: the FT coupon will drop by 14%. The reaction of Telecom Italia was immediate -1,9%. In the four-wheeled world, however, Fiat rose +0,8%. Instead, Pirelli -1,5%, StM -1,8% and Prysmian -1,8% are down. Highlighted are two renewable energy stocks: Kinexia, suspended due to excessive increases, and TerniEnergia +7,4%. Amplifon rises by 3,4%, promoted to buy by Kepler. Among the mid caps, two renewable energy stocks are moving up sharply: Kinexia, suspended due to excessive increases, and TerniEnergia +7,4%.
Amplifon rises by 3,4%, promoted to buy by Kepler. On the other hand, Iren fell -3,3%, after Cheuvreux lowered the recommendation and underperform from outperform.
