The Milan Stock Exchange closed with the FtseMib index down by 0,5%. A decrease to be largely attributed to the fall of Saipem (suspended at -4,3%) and its parent company Eni (-1,7%) a case that erupted in the middle of the session when a preview of the Sole 24 Ore website was released on an investigation by the Milan prosecutor's office into alleged bribes in Algeria.
The retreat also concerned the 10-year BTP, which recorded an increase in yield to 4,43%. The spread returned above 300, to 308, with a widening of 7 basis points. The London Stock Exchange instead closed up by 0,3%, Paris and Frankfurt +0,2%. The European currency has deflated to 1,307 against the dollar, from 1,309 at yesterday evening's close, after rising to 1,312 in the morning.
Contrasted US markets, between positive macro data and the sword of Damocles of the fiscal cliff: the Dow Jones index +0,64%, S&P500 +0,16%. But the Nasdaq is down 0,77%.
AMERICA
Here comes the blow for Citigroup. The US bank has announced a new restructuring plan that includes 11.000 layoffs and extraordinary charges for about 1 billion dollars in the fourth quarter accounts. The American group's plan also provides for the abandonment, or in any case the downsizing, of the activities in Pakistan, Paraguay, Romania, Turkey and Uruguay. Citigroup expects $1,1 billion in annual savings from these measures starting in 2014.
Factory orders rose 0,8% in October, better than expected. The ISM index of purchasing managers of service companies rose to 54,7 in November from 54,2 in October, economists had expected a drop to 53,5.
On the other hand, the data on the trend of employment in the private sector was disappointing. According to the ADP association, 118 new jobs were created in the USA in November, less than the 125 forecast by economists. In the previous month, employment had grown by 157 thousand units.
The decline of Apple -3%, the heaviest crash in a single session since 1998. The collapse is explained by the announcement that China Mobile, the most important Chinese mobile operator in China, has chosen to adopt Nokia's Lumia 920 T as a base product, based on Microsoft's Windows 8 technology, snubbing the Apple giant. Since the record quotation of mid-September, Apple has lost 39%.
Facebook 0,2% salt. The Nasdaq has announced that the social network, starting December 12, will join the Nasdaq 100 index in place of Infosys. Entry is important because there are many investment funds that replicate the composition of the Nasdaq 100 blue chip basket in their portfolios: the Nasdaq 100 is also the indicator on which many derivatives and ETFs are built.
EUROPA
The market then looks to the ECB meeting, the last one in a dangerously lived 2012. It is unlikely that the European Central Bank will be able to act on the cost of money or announce new extraordinary operations, but the market awaits the declarations of Mario Draghi to understand in which direction the economy of the Old Continent is moving. Especially after the go-ahead for the anti-spread plan, the go-ahead for aid for Spanish banks and Greece's buy-back on its debt.
Sensational in Deutsche Bank. Three former executives of the German banking giant filed complaints with the US authorities accusing the bank of having concealed the existence of losses of 12 billion dollars in derivatives in 2009, at the height of the Lehman Brothers crisis. This hole would have brought DB one step away from collapse, which could only be avoided with a massive injection of capital.
ITALY
The news of the day lies in the dramatic changing of the guard at Saipem. After the extraordinary board of directors of the oil equipment multinational, preceded by the Eni board, a note from the company informed that Pietro Franco Tali resigned from the positions of CEO and vice president of Saipem following the investigation launched by the Milan prosecutor's office in relation to alleged crimes of corruption committed, according to the investigators, within 2009 and relating to some contracts stipulated in Algeria between Sonatrach and Saipem to build a Gk3 onshore gas pipeline in Algeria in 2009 for 580 million. The Board, adds the note, has approved the precautionary suspension of Pietro Varone from the function of Chief operating officer of the Business unit engineering and construction. The precautionary suspension follows the notification of guarantee information to Varone by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office.
Tali declared, reads the note, "that he is convinced that the company's business has always been carried out in compliance with applicable laws, internal procedures, the code of ethics and the 231 model and that the company will successfully defend itself in appropriate.
In Piazza Affari negative closure for many banks: Unicredit fell by 0,4%, Understanding -1% Mount Paschi -1,7%. Also declining Ubi -0,1% and Pop.Milano -1%. Generali lost 0,4%, Fondiaria-Leaves rose by 0,2%. TOzimuth it gained 3,4% with a leap that brought it to the highs of the last 5 years. Mediolanum +1%. Among industrial stocks, Fiat rose by 0,2%, Finmeccanica + 1,1% StM + 2,7%. Enel gained 0,7% ed Enel Green Power 0,3%.
Telecom Italy marks a progress of 0,7%. 'Tomorrow the board of directors will discuss the two offers arrived for Ti Media, perhaps a third will arrive in the night. We will see him tomorrow'. This was said yesterday by Tarak Ben Ammar, who sits on the board of directors of Telecom, during a press conference. The most probable hypothesis is that, after the offers from Clessidra and Cairo, the third will come from the Asian group H3G.
Mediaset it rose by 1,7%. Strong descent of Ferragamo -1,9%. Piaggio it raced up 5,7% after Citigroup raised to a "buy" from "neutral."
