On the eve of the Fed's tapering decision, markets are moving cautiously around parity. Support came from the German Zew index on investor confidence which rose to 49,6 points in September against market expectations of 45,5 points, the highest for three years.
Piazza Affari closed just above parity (+0,11%). Negative sign for Frankfurt (-0,19%), London (-0,8%), Paris (-0,16%) and Madrid (-0,04%).
Today Spain auctioned 4,56 billion euros of one-year and six-month government bonds with rising rates. On the annual maturities, the yield rose to 1,367% from 1,253% in the analogous auction in August, while on the six-monthly maturities, the rate rose to 0,911% from 0,83%. Demand was up for six-month bonds and down for one-year bonds. The Btp Bund spread, down to 243 basis points, eliminated the gap with the Spain-Germany spread. Today, the Zew Index reading triggered a sell-off in the Bund pushing yields up to 1,96% and strengthened the euro to 1,3350 against the dollar. WTI oil dropped 0,7% to about 105,7 dollars a barrel. In line with expectations, the data on US consumer prices, which grew in August by 0,1% over July and by 1,5% on a trend basis.
The European markets were also affected by the negative data from the car market in Europe (-4,9% in August, after a July which had shown growth of 4,9%) and by the divestments of shares which affected some large groups such as Lloyds (UK government sold 6% stake).
Wall Street opens in positive territory with the Dow Jones rising by 0,2% at the close of Europe and the Nasdaq by 0,5%. Microsoft today announced a $40 billion buyback plan and plans to raise its dividend by 22%.
Foreign investors returned to buying American financial assets in July, after the flight in the previous months: net purchases of long-term financial assets were 31,3 billion dollars after sales of 67 billion dollars in the previous month. China remains the largest American creditor and strengthened its position in July to 1.280 billion dollars of securities, with purchases for 1,5 billion.
In Piazza Affari, which in the afternoon eliminated the losses of the morning, Mediobanca shines (+1,89%), which rises despite the red thanks to results that are in any case better than expected. Overall the banking sector is doing well with Banco Popolare (+1,51%) and Ubi Banca (+1,37%). Intesa (-0,43%) and Bpm (-0,42%) instead down. Also in evidence were Saipem (+1,89%) and Diasorin (+1,82%) thanks to the promotion of Mediobanca to outperform from neutral.
At the bottom of the Ftse Mib Tod's (-1,57%), Stm (-1,2%), Buzzi Unicem (-1,22%), Pirelli (-0,94%), Mediaset (-0,59%) .
Telecom (-0,91%) denied rumors of a sale of Tim Participacoes, responding to a request from the same Brazilian subsidiary. Cir (+6,89%) soars after the Cassation rejected Fininvest's appeal on the Lodo Mondadori.
