Wall Street makes Europe skid, which after a day of increases closes in negative territory. Better-than-expected US jobless data data raised fears of an acceleration of Fed tapering, on top of profit-taking. Milan saves itself thanks to the tow of the banks and earns it 0,34%. The Btp-Bund spread closed at 196 points, after having reached 193, the new low since July 2011. Paris -0,84%, London -0,45%, Frankfurt -0,8%, Madrid -0,19% .
Overall, peripheral bonds are doing well. Spain has assigned 3,53 billion euros of 5-year government bonds, obtaining rates that have fallen to an all-time low. The yield fell to 2,382% from 2,697% in December with a bid equal to 1,8 times the amount offered, down from 2,72 previously. Securities maturing in 2028 were also placed with rates down to 4,192% and demand stable at 2,7 times. Overall, 5,287 billion euro of bonds were assigned, exceeding the target of 5 billion.
In the US, unemployment benefits were once again on the decline, a sign of further improvement for the labor market. The decline was 15 to a seasonally adjusted 330 in the week ending Jan. 4. Expectations were for 335 requests.
Today the ECB kept the cost of money unchanged at 0,25% and reiterated that it is ready to take new decisive measures for price stability, both upwards and downwards. But in the Eurozone, Draghi reiterated, there is no risk of deflation as in Japan in the 90s. The euro-dollar exchange rate is at 1,3591, WTI oil is down by 0,29% to 92,06 dollars a barrel.
In Germany, industrial production is growing for the first time in three months. In November, it increased by 1,9% on a monthly basis (seasonally adjusted), after -1,2% in October. The figure is even better than the expectations of analysts who were aiming for a 1,5% increase.
In the Eurozone the economic sentiment of industry and consumers is still improving. In December it grew by 1,6 points, returning to touch, for the first time since July 2011, the threshold of 100,0 which represents the long-term average (1990-2012). Italy did well: +2,3. Germany unchanged.
In Italy, Istat has released data on household purchasing power for the first nine months of 2013, which fell by 1,5% compared to the same period of 2012. In the third quarter of 2013 alone, it grew by 0,2% compared to the previous quarter but decreased by 0,8% compared to the third quarter of 2012.
Piazza Affari saves itself thanks to the banks that run with the drop in the spread. Banco Popolare (+4,65%), BP (+3,96%) and Ubi Banca (+3,92%) lead the rises in the FtseMib. Mps bucked the trend with a drop of 1,34%. Mediaset also stands out (+3,5%) on the rumors of advertising sales in Spain. Cnh +2,55%.
At the bottom of the Ftse-Mib is luxury with Tod's -5,49%, Ferragamo -5%, Luxottica -1,81%. The sub-fund pays some prudent reports of some investment banks, such as Credit Suisse. At the bottom of the main basket also Stm (-2,06%) and Wdf (-1,52%).
