Christmas, as we know, makes everyone better, even in the year of the pandemic. But the behavior of Scott Mackenzie, the former Mrs. Bezos, still makes a sensation, even though she had announced her intention to sell a large part of the assets obtained from the billionaire divorce with Mr. Amazon to charitable works. Bloomberg informs us that Scott has so far donated more than 4 billion dollars, with a peak of 1,7 billion in July.
No less welcome, albeit expected, is the gift from the Federal Reserve. Yesterday evening the reassurances of the Central Bank of the United States on the continuation of monetary aid allowed the Nasdaq (+0,5%) to conquer another record. Jerome Powell has assured that he will be present and active with his colossal bond purchase plans until "further and substantial progress is made": a statement that implicitly acknowledges both the improvement underway and the persistence of an underlying weakness, also due to the uncertainties about the escape route from the pandemic.
US AID IS COMING, 600 DOLLARS EACH
In Congress, Democrats and Republicans, focused on the electoral challenge in Georgia, decisive for control of the Senate, argue in front of the press, but behind the scenes they are working on a 900 billion dollar aid package, which according to the latest rumors would include a check from 600 dollars to an exterminated audience.
Meanwhile, the US currency, which has been in decline for months, is weakening even more. The euro dollar touches new lows for the period at 1,227. Little moved Dow Jones (-0,15%) and S&P (+0,18%). Wall Street futures are up.
Worth mentioning is the boom of Tillray (+18%). The marijuana market leader has joined Alphria, the main competitor.
RECORD FEES FOR CHINESE MARKETS
Asia rises: Tokyo's Nikkei is up 0,2%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0,1%. CSI 300 of the Shanghai and Shenzen price lists +0,8%. As proof that China is increasingly in the world, there are data on commissions collected by the major international banks which over the course of the year handled the secondary placements of Chinese companies already listed on the domestic stock exchange. 2020 will close with 1,73 billion in proceeds, more than double that of 2019 and very close to the 2010 record.
Kospi of Seoul -0,3%. Mumbai's Bse Sensex +0,2%. The Australian Stock Exchange is highlighted, with the S&P ASX 200 index of Sydney up 1,1%: although there is an ongoing half-trade war with China which runs on cereals and wine, The government improved its federal budget forecast tonight.
THE DOLLAR FLAPS, OIL RISES
The drop in the dollar gives strength to oil, with Brent on the fourth consecutive day of increases, at 51,5 dollars a barrel.
On the domestic front, the State-Regions Conference approved the Italian plan for the administration of the vaccine against the coronavirus presented by the emergency commissioner Domenico Arcuri. The mass vaccination campaign will begin in January, but the first doses could be administered as early as after Christmas if the authorization of the EMA, the European Medicines Agency, arrives. Arcuri said the campaign will begin with the first 1.833.975 doses distributed by Pfizer and sent to the Regions. The Region that will receive the greatest amount of doses will be Lombardy (304.955), followed by Emilia-Romagna (183.138).
It looms a red zone throughout Italy on pre-holidays and public holidays from 24 December to 3 January.
GERMANY SUPERSTAR: 5 BIG FROM BEYOND THE RHINE AT THE TOP
The strength of manufacturing and the recovery of services have brought the German economic activity index well into expansion territory. The performance can also be explained by the structure of the industry beyond the Rhine: "Large companies - writes Giuseppe Sersale of Anthilia - with access to markets and global demand, are well positioned to take advantage of the wave of fiscal stimulus and for the collapse in the cost of capital linked to zero interest rates and the euphoria on the markets. In this way, these manage to appropriate large slices of new business, the result of public investments or demand subtracted from local operators". Confirmation comes from the Stoxx 50 index. In the first five places, in the ranking of the largest increases, there are five German companies: Volkswagen +3%, Bayer +3,3%, Deutsche Post +2,5%, Daimler +2,5 .2% and Allianz +1,53%. Frankfurt closes at +XNUMX%.
The Eurozone PMI index on the expectations of purchasing managers of manufacturing companies rose to 55,5 in December, from 53,8: the consensus expected 53. The services PMI, although penalized by the lockdowns, rises to 47,3, 41,7, from 42, against the modest increase to XNUMX estimated by analysts.
MILAN +0,23%. LONDON (+0,90%) BETS ON THE AGREEMENT
Milan (+0,23%) was held back by the performance of bank stocks. The trend in Paris is similar (+0,31%). London +0,90% after the incoming news on Brexit, Ursula von den Leyen told the European Parliament that the only thing missing from the agreement is an agreement on fishing. Euro pound exchange rate at 0,9.
SPREAD STILL DOWN TO 108 POINTS
Sales on bonds, with the 0,56-year Bund at -4%, +0,53 basis points. BTP stable at 108%. The spread drops to 2008 points, the lowest since XNUMX.
Historic day for Bitcoin, which crossed the $20.000 threshold for the first time, closing the day above $21. The "wall" had been resisting for three years.
The decisions on bank dividends by the ECB have held back financials. The ECB has recommended "extreme prudence" to Eurozone banks in the distribution of dividends and the buyback of treasury shares, but has opened up the possibility for banks with sufficient capital to pay coupons and carry out buybacks with a ceiling of 15% of cumulative profits 2019-20 and not above 20 basis points of CET1. The new recommendation is valid until 30 September.
The Ministry of the Economy is concretely working to extend the duration of the state guarantees on bank non-performing loans (Gacs) by 12 months until May 2022, report two sources close to the dossier.
Intesa Sanpaolo (-2,7%) has already played its part in the new wave of consolidation in Italy, now it's the turn of the others. This was stated by the CEO, Carlo Messina, adding that political instability in addition to the current phase of uncertainty due to the pandemic would create a "perfect storm" in the country's economic landscape.
Asset management is also slowing down. Banca Mediolanum +0,1%. Banca Generali -1,2%: the institute will enter the capital of Conio Inc, a "wallet provider" that offers custody, trading and reporting services focused in particular on Bitcoin.
Generals +0,2%. Unipol +2%. The decision of the supervision of the ECB on dividends could be taken up and re-launched by the supervisory authorities of the insurance companies.
Leonard -1,7%. Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio, both joint ventures between Thales and Leonardo, have signed contracts with the Italian Ministry of Defense and the Italian Space Agency for the development of two additional satellites and for the upgrade of the ground segment, logistics integration and operations for the completion of the second generation Cosmo-SkyMed constellation.
Time +0,5%. The communications guarantee authority Agcom has decided to launch an investigation to evaluate the effects on media pluralism of the simultaneous presence of Vivendi in Mediaset and Tim. Fitch Ratings believes that the potential acquisition of the mobile telephony business of the Brazilian Oi in a joint offer together with Telefonica Brasil and Claro is neutral in terms of the creditworthiness of the buying companies. Worth noting is Nexi: +2,5%. Ovs (+8%) presented a binding offer for the acquisition of some Stefanel assets, including the company's historic brand.
