Stock exchanges comforted by Germany's openness to a solution on Athens for Monday. The European markets close positively: Milan is the best, +0,82%, above 15.400 points and at its highest level since November 7th. Frankfurt +0,16%, Paris +0,44%, London +0,07% and Madrid +0,27%. Athens closes up 1,10%. The Btp-Bund spread is at 340 basis points and a yield of 4,84%, slightly down since the opening. The euro rose to 1,2818 against the dollar, the WTI rose to 86,89 dollars a barrel and gold to 1.727,50 dollars an ounce.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones rose by 0,24% and the Nasdaq by 0,01% helped by the super-index of the economy which rose by 0,2%. Jobless claims fell by 41k in the past week to 410k, in line with expectations, although still high due to Sandy's impact. However, the Michigan consumer confidence index fell short of expectations, rising to 82,7 points from 82,6 in the previous month, below expectations of 84,5.
Overall, however, stocks are resisting fears about Greece. For Chancellor Angela Merkel there is a "chance" that an agreement will be reached on Greece next Monday e German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said there is agreement with other European ministers and the International Monetary Fund on a Greek debt buyback programme, which will be part of a series of measures aimed at covering Athens' financial needs.
For the Germans, the operation should be financed with an increase in the resources of the EFSF fund for 10 billion euros. As for the summit on the European budget, scheduled for tomorrow and the day after in Brussels, Merkel told the Bundestag that in case of "emergency", if no agreement is found, a new European summit is possible at the beginning of 2013.
Bpm stands out in Piazza Affari, +3,59%. Intesa also rose, +2,38%, and Unicredit, +0,75%. Mps loses 1,04%. Diasorin +3,18%, Mediaset +3,03% and Enel Green Power +2,26% are also at the top of the Ftse Mib. At the bottom Ansaldo Sts -1,09%, Mediobanca -0,89%, Buzzi Unicem -0,80% and Azimut -0,51%.
Meanwhile Blackrock and Alliance Bernstein, which own significant stakes in the major Italian companies (Generali to Eni, from Fiat to Telecom), have decided to avail themselves of the exemption from the obligation to communicate shareholdings between 2 and 5% of the capital. The exemption is envisaged, for asset management activities, by the European Transparency directive, implemented last June in the Commission's issuers' regulation.
