“It's the day of the Fed and Apple's results. But on Wall Street there is only talk of the strange rise of GameStop. The staggering rise in the weight of amateur investors has brought two highly professionally managed hedge funds to their knees. This is how Bloomberg recounts the run of a stock which, judging by the fundamentals, does not deserve any attention, but which, supported by the purchases of traders, achieved a rise of 1.700% in January (+135% yesterday), forcing the surrender the two hedge funds that had played on the downside, losing billions of dollars.
It is not an isolated phenomenon: even in Europe, see Nokia, the purchases relaunched through the Reddit network are upsetting price lists, qualifying as an unprecedented variant of a financial bubble capable of complicating the games of central banks, which, as it did yesterday the Fed, are reiterating the line of raining money, but in doing so, in addition to supporting the weak economic situation, they are sowing the seeds of (almost) uncontrollable speculation. In this context, the nervousness of the stock markets can be explained: in addition to the epidemic which is not under control, the markets fear having to face unsustainable share prices.
THE FED ASSURES: NO JOKE ON RATES
The stellar results of Apple (revenues of 111,4 billion dollars, much better than forecasts) and Facebook, both announced after the stock market was closed, are not sufficient this morning to support futures on the Nasdaq (-0,3%). Yesterday all Wall Street indices showed losses of more than 2% (Nasdaq -2,61%). Yesterday Jerome Powell's assurances that monetary aid would continue indefinitely (“we still have to finish the job”) were not given weight: the S&P 500 index closed down 2,6%, the worst session since October.
CHINA ALSO DOWN 1,9%
In Asia, the MSCI Asia Pacific, which excludes Japan, fell 1,7% this morning. Tokyo Nikkei -1,3%. Hong Kong Hang Seng -1,5%, Shanghai and Shenzen CSI 300 -1,9%, BSE Sensex -1%, Seoul Kospi -1,7%.
The dollar is once again appreciated by investors; gold and oil down slightly. Euro-dollar at 1,209 (-0,2%).
VACCINE WAR IN EUROPE. EU AGAINST ASTRAZENECA
"The Italian crisis increases concerns about the effectiveness of the European Recovery Plan". So the Financial Times the index points to Italy risk again.
Meanwhile, the research service and the budget service of the House and Senate have pointed out that the projects indicated by the government to have access to European aid from the Recovery Fund involve a higher expenditure than the available funds. "No resources have been found against the margin of 14,4 billion of higher loans compared to the total amount that can be financed".
But yesterday the focus was on the vaccine war. The Commission took the field with a hard face against AstraZeneca, guilty of having unilaterally transferred the doses already assigned to the EU to Great Britain. The fact that Sanofi has signed an agreement to produce the Pfizer/Biontech vaccine was not enough to raise spirits, because the slowdown in the vaccination campaign has obvious economic repercussions. The IMF has downsized the growth prospects in the EU also due to these delays. In fact, the hypotheses of new lockdowns are gaining ground in France and Great Britain, while in Spain the health authorities have decided to suspend vaccinations for two weeks because supplies are running out.
BAGS IN RED: FRANKFURT -1,7%, MILAN -1,47%
Piazza Affari closes with a loss of 1,47% at 21.662 points. Madrid loses 1,46%. Frankfurt is doing worse (-1,76%), weighed down by the drop in growth estimates for 2021. The German government has in fact made a drastic downward revision to 3% (against the +4,4% expected last autumn). In Germany there was also a deterioration in consumer confidence in February, with the Gfk index falling to -15,6 points, more than eight points below the January level. This is the fourth consecutive drop.
In the rest of Europe, in Paris (-1,16%) Lvmh dropped 0,31%: the group, with 75 brands strong, recovered the damage caused by the lockdown thanks to the recovery of Dior and Louis Vuitton. Edf's landslide continues (-2,8%), which is affected by the increase in costs for the English plant at Hinkley Point.
LONDON -1,3%: THE CAR CUTS 10 THOUSAND SEATS
London -1,31%. Britain bans travel to 22 countries. This was announced by Boris Johnson in Parliament. These are countries in South America and Southern Africa, as well as Portugal, with the aim of avoiding the importation of the Brazilian and South African variants of Covid.
In 2020, the British car industry experienced the most difficult year since 1984, with a drop in productivity below one million units and the loss of 10 jobs. “But it was – warns the industry association – only the tip of the iceberg”.
AUCTION BOT, THE YIELD GOES UP. TODAY 8,75 BILLION IN BTP
Bonds moved little, awaiting the evolution of the political crisis. At the end, the 0,65-year rate was around 123%, unchanged from the start. The spread on the Bund on the ten-year stretch is 121 points, from XNUMX on the previous day.
The Treasury placed all the 7 billion euros of bonds offered at a rate of -0,448%, up 7 basis points compared to the previous auction. Today the MEF will offer up to 8,75 billion in the medium-long term auction.
Greece and Austria launched new 29-year bonds with orders for over 32 and over 60 billion euro respectively, while Slovenia moved into the extra-long segment by issuing a 4,3-year bond with requests exceeding XNUMX billion.
ORCEL IN UNICREDIT IN APRIL. GENERALI LOOKS TO POLAND
The board of Unicredit (-0,77%), as expected, unanimously identified Andrea Orcel as the new managing director to be submitted to the next shareholders' meeting on April 15th. Although closing in the red, the stock is the best in the sector. The other financial companies did worse, held back by the disappointing performance of the vaccination campaign: Banca Generali -2,89%, Intesa San Paolo -1,74% and Banca Mediolanum -2,48%. Important sales also on Unipol: -3,78%.
General -1,13%. The company is among the contenders for the Polish assets put up for sale by Aviva.
PLUS SIGN FOR PHARMA PETROLIFERI. FERRAGAMO, NEWS IN SIGHT
Almost all blue chips are down. The pharmaceuticals are an exception: Amplifon +1,6%, Diasorin +5%, Recordati +0,5%. Robust oil companies, helped by the rise in raw material prices: Saipem closes at +4,65%, Tenaris +1,73%. In luxury, Ferragamo runs (+4,98%). There is talk of the transfer of a minority stake to a new partner.
LONG LIST OF CALI. INTERPUMP COLLAPSES
Much longer the row of stocks with heavy losses. Interpump collapses (-6,28%), on which Kepler Cheuvreux has reduced the recommendation from buy to hold, with a target price of 40 euros. “After a significant rerating of the stock – reads the report – we see a lack of upside compared to our €40 target price, which we confirm, and a large premium compared to historical multiples and competitors”.
NEW DROP FOR STELLANTIS. THE FRENCH STATE WILL COME OUT
Suffers Exor (-3,74%), as well as Stellantis (-3,45%). Martin Vial, head of the company that manages French state holdings Ape, said Bpifrance would not remain a shareholder in Stellantis. Jefferies has updated the target price of the auto giant from 18 to 22 euros.
ATLANTIA UNDER FIRE, ENEL LOOKS AT LONDON. STM-3%.
In the red Atlantia (-3,4%). No final offer on Aspi by CdP and the Funds is expected by the end of this month. Stm -3% before the exit of the accounts. Enel (-3%) is considering an offer for the British energy utility Western Power Distribution (Wpd), as part of a consortium whose advisor is the investment bank Rothschild. Prysmian (-1,6%) completed the placement of the equity linked bond maturing in 2026, increasing the amount to 750 million from the initial 650.
FINCANTIERI-STX: SKIP THE DEAL (FOR NOW)
Fincantieri +3,32%. There definitive break of the agreement with the French Chantiers de l'Atlantique was taken for granted. But a new agreement is not excluded: the majority of Stx will remain French, but there could be an agreement on management.
