It is the day of redemption for the Agnelli galaxy. After the crash on Wednesday – the day of Marchionne's disappearance and the public debut of the new CEO Mike Manley – FCA, Ferrari and Exor stocks have sounded the charge since the opening. The best and most sensational result was for CNH which presented the half-year with revenues from industrial activities up 15% to 7,6 billion and a strong increase in adjusted Ebitda and adjusted Ebit, recording a marked improvement in margins . Adjusted net profit jumped 56% to $397 million, debt nearly halved to $1,3 billion. The group has revised upwards the 2018 target on earnings per share and lowered its debt forecasts. The CNH stock was rewarded with a vertical leap of 10,63% almost 10 euros. FCA closed up 3,49%, Ferrari +2,37%, Exor +3,65%. The same trend as the Lingotto stable also on Wall Street.
If FCA's rebound was certainly within expectations and was destined to prevail in investors' attention, it was not the only starting point of the day that saw European stock markets start with one eye turned to the good news of the renewed trade truce with the USA, after the favorable announcement following the Trump-Juncker summit, and the other eye directed towards the ECB which was meeting in Frankfurt. Once we learned from Mario Draghi, in the early afternoon, that QE would end as planned but that there would have been no advance on the rate hike compared to the announced plans, all European markets calmed down and closed in positives: Frankfurt +1,83%, Paris +1%. Almost flat London +0,06%.
Milan was the best place and the Ftse Mib closed the day at 21.862 points (+1,4%). The banks are in tune with Banco Bpm and Unicredit, strong rise for Banca Generali after the excellent quarterly +5,3%.
The rally continues Saipem + 6,3%, Eni also did well + 0,65% thanks to the upward movement of both Brent oil at 74,4 dollars and Wti at 69,8 dollars.
Among the worst of the session Moncler with -3,8%. In contrast to the Ftse Mib, in the automotive sector, Brembo, despite the half-year above expectations. The group presented net revenues of 1,3 billion, up 6,1% on the first half of the previous year. At constant exchange rates, revenues increased by 10,1%. Ebitda was open at 259,9 million (+1,7%), while net profit stood at 140,1 million, up 2,5%. Debts down to 263,1 million. However, the company pays the more uncertain forecasts for the automotive sector, not only for the unknown duties, after the warnings launched by FCA, GM and Ford on the year-end accounts. The sector's Dow Jones lost 2,4% indicating that the sector's exclusion from the US-EU tariff deal has investors on the edge of their seats.
On the other side of the Atlantic, another black day for Facebook which lost 18% on Wall Street for the second consecutive day. Mark Zuckerberg's social network pays the cost of privacy and new European rules after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. And he rediscovers himself more fragile than he thought: 114 billion of capitalization went up in smoke in a few hours.
