MILAN STOCK EXCHANGE TO THE RESCUE (+1,92%)
THE GOLD RUSH DOESN'T STOP: 1609
Piazza Affari has led the recovery of the European Stock Exchanges. The Milanese stock market closed the day with an increase of 1,92%, Ftse/Mib at 18.229, followed in the short order by Frankfurt (+1,19%), Paris (1,43%) Zurich (+1,36 %), Madrid (+1,38%) and London (+0,84%), bringing up the rear while in the City all the monitors are on to follow Rupert Murdoch's interrogation live in the House of Commons. In short, the climate is more relaxed, even if, as evidence of the uncertainty, a new absolute record must be recorded for gold: 1.609 euros per ounce. Not only. Ahead of Thursday's European summit on Greece, Germany puts its hands forward: the meeting of eurozone heads of state will not be the final step in resolving Greece's debt crisis.
MERKEL: THE SUMMIT WILL NOT BE DECISIVE
THE SCISSORS WITH THE BUND NARROW TO 305 POINTS
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said this during a press conference held together with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. "There are other necessary steps to take and it will not be a spectacular event that solves all the problems," said Merkel, defining unrealistic the hopes of a single final decisive appointment that will make the Greek crisis disappear, given the need to do deal with complex alternatives regarding the involvement of the private sector in a second aid plan in Athens.
At the same time, Irish Prime Minister Edna Kelly said the final agenda for Thursday's eurozone summit had not yet been finalised. "At the moment the agenda is not finalized yet, I'm pretty sure of that," Kelly told parliament. "It is my hope that an agreement can be reached on Thursday that will definitely put an end to this anxious situation, regarding the second aid package for Greece."
However, the newfound vein of the financial sector took care of the recovery. Tension has also decreased on the bond market, where the Btp-Bund spread fell to 305 basis points after touching 337 points yesterday. Positive influences also from the outcome of the Spanish Bonos auction. The Iberian Treasury placed 3,788 billion euros of 12-month bonds with a yield of 3,702% from the previous 2,695% and 661 million euros of 18-month bonds with a yield of 3,912% from the previous 3,26%. Placed the maximum of the expected fork. The demand is very high, equal to 2,2 and 5,5 times respectively.
BANK SECURITIES ON THE SCUDI
DESPITE NOMURA'S VOTE
On the European front, the German Zew index did not weigh on economic expectations which settled in July at -15,1 points compared to a consensus of -12,5 points. A drop mainly due to the debt problems of some countries in the euro area. After yesterday's debacle, it was still the bank's recovery session despite the fact that Nomura, in view of the presentation of the quarterly results, reduced the expectations on the earnings per share of Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo for the period 2011-2013. Just the two Italian credit giants topped the main basket: Unicredit gained 4,68% to 1,186 euros, while Intesa 4,32% to 1,544 euros. Banco Popolare (+3,35% to 1,388 euros), Monte dei Paschi (+3,22% to 0,475 euros) and Ubi Banca (+1,95% to 3,34 euros) also did well. The increase of Popolare di Milano (+0,89% to 1,468 euros) was more contained, as it is preparing to launch the new industrial plan.
UTILITIES ON THE RISE. FLY ATLANTIA
ALREADY BETTING ON EDISON'S TAKEOVER OFFER
The utilities day was positive. Atlantia also performed well (+2,24% at 13,25 euros) in the wake of the upgrade by Credit Suisse. Enel (+1,62% to 4,006 euros), meanwhile, is awaiting the decision of the Council of State, which should arrive in the evening, on the appeal filed by the electricity giant against the decision of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court which last December canceled the single authorization granted in October 2009 by the Sicily Region for the construction of a regasification terminal in Porto Empedocle (Agrigento).
The total investment in this project is approximately 800 million euros. Among the titles in evidence, after a long eclipse, stands out Stm. (+2,35 percent) driven by IBM's better-than-expected accounts. But, writes a note from Intermonte, the slowdown in the semiconductor sector is not over yet. We continue to advise caution on STMicroelectronics pending the results”, maintaining the neutral recommendation with a target price of 5,53 euros.
Edison's star shines (+1,635) after the go-ahead from A2a's management board for negotiations with Edf, which could also be joined by Iren in the future. The market wonders if, in the end, the mandatory takeover bid will trigger. "We continue to believe that Edf could be available for the mandatory takeover bid (at around 0,87 euro per share), while a voluntary takeover bid is more unlikely", said the Equita analysts, who confirm the recommendation on Edison reduce with target price at 0,8 euros.
Mediaset recovers (+1,35% to 2,996 euros) pending the quarterly accounts scheduled for next July 28th. “We expect a weak quarter both in Italy and in Spain – commented the Equita analysts -. Italy's Ebit is expected to drop by 34% to 142 million euros mainly due to a 4,3% reduction in advertising and costs up by 3%. We also estimate a negative result for pay TV of 15 million euros”. The Milanese sim, taking into account the negative trend in Spain, estimates at a consolidated level a drop in Ebit of 36% to 185 million euros and 37% of net profit to 94 million euros. The broker recommends hold on the stock of the Cologno Monzese group with a target price of 3,40 euros.
LDM: FIAT WILL NOT QUOTE FERRARI
BOFA PUNISHES PIRELLI (-4,88%)
Runs Fiat Industrial (+2,80) chasing Fiat (+1,48%) after the first advances on the quarterly and the new organization that will be decided on July 26 in Belo Horizonte. The statement by Luca di Montezemolo is significant: “Ferrari's listing is not planned”. Conversely, Pirelli instead recorded a drop of 4,95% to 7,20 euros in the wake of a report by BofA Merrill Lynch which started coverage on the Bicocca group with an underperform recommendation and a target price of 7 euros.
GOLDMAN SACHS BRAKES. TOO MANY RISKS ON THE MARKETS
EARNINGS DOWN IN THE QUARTER. SHARE DOWN (-3,3%)
Even the speculators cry. Yesterday Goldman Sachs (-3,3%) undisputed queen of the trading markets, announced lower than forecast profits in the second quarter: a turnover of 7,3 billion (against 8,8 billion a year ago), 1,1 613 billion in earnings, almost double a year ago (2,7 million) but much less than the 53 billion in the first quarter. The slowdown is due to the sharp drop in profits (-XNUMX%) in the currencies, commodities and fixed income sectors to be linked "to the lower liquidity and high levels of incence". One circumstance, said CEO Lloyd Blankfein "prompted us to lower the risk profile".
The good performance, thanks to the use of derivatives, of equity commissions (+19%) only partially cushioned the decline in profits, the first major negative surprise of the season: both JP Morgan and Citigroup announced strong quarterly results. However, the Goldman Sachs disappointment did not prevent a positive start on Wall Street: the Standard & Poor's 500 index is up by 1,01%, the Dow Jones rises by 1.03 percent, the Nasdaq by 1,70 percent .
The “drivers of the session are the technological stocks, thanks to the boost of IBM's accounts, which are clearly recovering. But also financial stocks, in general, register a good intonation: JP Morgan rises by 1,3%, Citigroup by 0,9%. A boost also came from the data beyond expectations on the real estate market. Indeed, new residential construction sites in June stood at 629 from the 560 units of the previous month, exceeding the forecasts of analysts who had predicted 575 units.
