THE SCOTTISH NO GIVES WINGS TO THE STERLING. ALIBABA, 21,8 BILLION IPO IN WALL STREET
Scotland remains in the UK. The referendum ended with a large victory of the "no". Now London will have to proceed with the federal reforms promised in the electoral campaign. The markets anticipated the outcome of the polls: the pound is yesterday at a 2-year high against the euro at 78,53 pence and clearly strengthening against the dollar now traded at 1,6496.
The rise of the dollar against the yen (109,46) contributed to the sharp rise of the Nikkei which is about to close with a rise of around 1,5% on the wave of Wall Street's rises. The day after the Fed's announcements, US stocks accelerated: Dow Jones +0,64%, S&P 500 +0,49%, Nasdaq +0,47%.
The US markets are ready to celebrate today the most awaited freshman in history. Yesterday evening, in fact, the price of Alibaba's offer was set: 68 dollars, at the top of the range, which will allow the collection of 21,8 billion dollars and an initial capitalization of 167,6 billion dollars in front of icons Americans such as Walt Disney and Boeing. Thanks also to the road show led by Jack Ma, the former English teacher who founded the e-commerce giant in China. "His presentation of the IPO - comments a hedge manager, Jerrry Jordan - was the clearest and most convincing I have ever witnessed". At least 40 institutions have made investment requests of at least one billion dollars.
A surprise announcement also rains down on the market: Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, has decided to follow the example of his great enemy Bill Gates. Ellison resigned, while retaining his positions as executive chairman and chief technology officer. He himself, who has been at the helm of the software giant for 37 years, has chosen his successors: Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, former collaborators of him.
BUSINESS PLACE FROZEN BY IMF REPORT
The European stock exchanges accelerated in the final, contrary to Piazza Affari held back by yet another negative forecast: according to the Monetary Fund, GDP at the end of 2014 will be down by 0,1%
The Paris Stock Exchange rose by 0,7%, Frankfurt gained 1,4% led by Bayer +4,8% which announced its intention to list the less profitable plastics business (an operation worth about 10 billion euros) to focus on healthcare and agriculture. The London Stock Exchange advanced 0,5% ahead of the Scottish vote.
Madrid is also advancing +0,77%, the square that would have been more sensitive to the consequences of the eventual victory of the Yes in Scotland. In Europe, the best sectors were Technology (Stoxx of the sector +1,4%) and Banks (+1,2%).
Piazza Affari finished trading up by 0,08% to 21.128 points, after reaching 21.279 points, hit at the end by the forecasts of the Monetary Fund. The spread between the Btp and the Bund closed at 134 basis points and the domestic ten-year yield at 2,43%.
Oil is back on the rise with Brent at 98 dollars a barrel (-0,9%). Oil stocks moved little: Eni +0,1% announced a major oil discovery in Ecuador. Saipem -0,3%.
TLTRO, THE FIRST TRADE IS A FLOP
While waiting for the Scottish referendum, the attention of the European markets was concentrated on the first Tltro operation launched from Frankfurt. The European Central Bank has allocated 255 billion euros of four-year funds to 82,6 banks in the first TLTRO financing operation, aimed at relaunching the flow of credit to the real economy. The figure is clearly lower than the forecasts which indicated a request of around 130 billion. If, on the one hand, a lower than expected participation indicates a modest effectiveness of the measures adopted by the ECB, on the other it suggests that the ECB will have to act on other fronts as well.
BANKS
Contrasted session for credit titles, conditioned by the IMF Report but also by the judgments of analysts in view of the Aqr by the ECB. Unicredit rose by 1,1%, Understanding + 0,2% Ubi +0,2%, Pop.Milan +2,2%. Mediobanca it gained 0,9% after the results announced yesterday and the confirmation that by June 2015 it will definitively leave Telecom Italia and RCS. They close down Pop.Emilia -3,5% and MontePaschi -2%.
The performance of the major European banks is better, Deutsche Bank rose by 2,3%, Société Générale + 1,4% Credit Suisse + 1,8% Barclays + 1,2%.
STM CONFIRMS OBJECTIVES: THE TITLE FLYS
It stands out among Italian industrial stocks StM +2,9%, after the financial director Carlo Ferro said that the third quarter will close with results in line with management's indications. “With us, the rule that 'no news' means that we are 'on track' with respect to the range of guidance we have given for the quarter always applies,” said the manager.
The estimates for the third quarter presented by StM last July indicated a growth in revenues of 3% (with a fluctuation margin of 3,5 percentage points) and a Gross margin of 34,4% (with a fluctuation band of 2 percentage points).
As for any financing needs, the group has no need at the moment to return to the bond market, added Ferro. The one billion convertible bond launched at the end of June "is enough for us" for a long time, explained the manager. Since the beginning of the year, the StM share has risen by 9%.
Finmeccanica salt by 1,2%. Instead, they retreat Fiat -1,5% and Cnh Industrial -2,3%. Telecom Italy -0,8%.
ENEL, IN NOVEMBER OPV FOR ENDESA
Enel remained flat at 4,20 euros after the board of the subsidiary Endesa approved the sale to the Italian parent of the assets in Latin America for 8,25 billion euros. The company could launch a public offer, perhaps as early as November, to place between 17% and 22% of the Spanish subsidiary. Yesterday the Court of Cassation in Paris, however, ruled in favor of Enel Green Power -0,38% to 2,08 in the Lageo case in El Salvador.
