End of the week in the name of the bear. What triggered the return of sales to Wall Street, with immediate repercussions on the lists of the Old Continent, were the novelties arriving from Asia. First of all, the data on the Chinese trade balance surplus, less effervescent than expected (even if the balance, 13,1 billion, is still 19% higher than twelve months ago). Even more the surprise increase of a quarter of a point in South Korea's reference rate. Beyond the macroeconomic effects, Wall Street fears that the decline in the Shanghai index, where type B shares have lost their 2,7% after a loss of 7,9% in Thursday's session, may have an immediate echo on Chinese stocks listed on the American Stock Exchange where, according to analysts, there are companies of dubious solidity.
Finally, a piece of news launched by CNBC has worsened the mood: the Federal Reserve intends to launch a new round of stress tests for 35 US banks. A piece of news that perhaps explains, in retrospect, Jamie Dimon's bad mood towards Ben Bernanke.
FRANCE, TRIPLE AA AT RISK
FEAR RETURNS TO MADRID
In Europe, concerns about the slowdown of the Chinese locomotive (confirmed by the drop in ram imports) combined with the usual worries about the Greek crisis. In the morning, the Berlin Parliament had indeed approved the go-ahead for new aid to Athens, but Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble himself had replied remotely to Jean-Claude Trichet, reiterating that, according to Berlin, "risks and in the case of Greece should be divided between States and private investors". Meanwhile, the warning from S&P on French public finances has weighed on the mood of the eurozone: in the absence of structural reforms, says a note from the rating agency, Paris could lose its triple A rating. The alarm, as usual, it produced immediate reactions on the sovereign debt market: the yield differential on ten-year bonds of peripheral countries widened compared to the German bund. The Italian government bond rises to 182 basis points, the spread on the Spanish 250-year bond rises to 1 points, the highest since January. Complicating the picture for Spain was news arriving from London: half of the XNUMX billion euro loan launched on the Euromarket by Santander on behalf of the main Spanish regions (Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia and so on) has been subscribed only half.
The euro is down to 1,438 against the dollar, from 1,451 at last night's close. After three days of rise, oil reverses course: the future on the Wti trades at 99,13 dollars a barrel (-2,7%).
PARIS BLACK JERSEY OF EUROPE BECAUSE OF S&P (AND LUXURY)
MILAN CONTAINS LOSSES (-1,33%). BPM IN THE SIGHT
The result of these negative influences has produced a setback almost everywhere. On the Milan Stock Exchange, in particular, the decline was accentuated in the afternoon: the Ftse Mib however contained the losses to 1,33%. Things went worse in Paris (-1,90%), hit by the S&P warning, in London (-1,55), a little better in Frankfurt -1,25. Both Nasdaq and Dow Jones show declines of around 1,3-1,4% in the middle of the session, driven downwards by the financials: Wells Fargo is down by 1,9%, Sun Trusts loses 1,7 .
The morning had opened under positive auspices for the banking sector. The overweight of Credit Suisse on Commerzbank, after the positive outcome of the capital increase, contributed to favoring a positive start. A promotion that, indirectly, also rewards Banca Intesa. Regarding the Ca' de Sass institute, among other things, it should be noted the purchase of shares by the general manager Marco Morelli, who bet 114.212 euros on his institute. But in the afternoon, the financial sector also reversed course in Piazza Affari, where the downward march started, as usual, from the Bpm (-3,46%) which between now and the meeting of 25 June (and, probably, even beyond) seems destined to experience really hot days. Yesterday the stock (-3,64%, the worst of the Mib 40) suffered both new revelations on last winter's liquidity crisis and the no from friends of Bpm to the increase in powers in view of the approval of the capital increase from 1,2 billion (against a capitalization of just over 700 million).
Fondiaria Sai also reversed course (-1,19%) after a bullish morning. And industrial stocks also corrected downwards, including Fiat and Prysmian, with a negative point for Stm (-2,76%), exposed to the slowdown in consumption by some big electronics companies. The attention on Poltrona Frau also fades away, after an effervescent morning. The stock went from +3,4% to -0,38% in the space of a few hours, causing a cooling of attention on the luxury sector. In the morning, in fact, the rumor had spread of an upcoming blitz by LVMH on Hermès, which was later subject to an official denial.
