Il collapse of the Turkish lira, which today has lost up to 20% against the dollar, overwhelms the markets and triggers a flight from European banks which primarily penalizes Piazza Affari. For Milan, the closure is in the black jersey, -2,51%, 21.090 points. Unicredit sinks -4,73%, the most exposed to Ankara with a 40,9% share of Yapi Kredi (-5,88%, in Istanbul). Sales also fell on Intesa -3,65%, Ubi -3,08%, Banco Bpm -1,97%. Outside the sector, Stm sinks, -5,06%, the worst stock of the session, due to the chip sector veteran coming from Morgan Stanley. Bad Leonardo -2,96%. No big cap is in the green today, it contains Unipol sales, -0,24%, after the quarterly.
To see a brilliant performance you have to look at the Star, where the accounts reward Datalogic, +4,59%. International tensions also hit heavily on Italian paper. The 2,99-year yield reaches 267.20%, while the spread with the Bund jumps to a two-month high, 5,2 basis points, + 6%. On the primary this morning, the Treasury placed 12 billion 0,679-month BOTs, with a yield of 2014%, the highest since January 34, up 1,79 basis points from the July auction. Demand is on the rise (XNUMX times the coverage ratio).
If Milan cries, the rest of the world doesn't laugh. Wall Street travels down and Europe closes in deep red: Frankfurt -1,96%; Paris -1,59%; Madrid -1,61%; London -0,99%; Zurich -1,15%. Adding to this already alarming narrative is the doubling of US duties on Turkish steel and aluminum today, while Turkish President Erdogan is asking his compatriots to change their reserves of foreign currency and gold into Turkish lira and warns that he will respond to those who have launched an economic war against the country.
The euro weakens against all major currencies and reaches a one-year low against the dollar. At the moment the exchange rate is in the 1,141 area (-0,96%). A flight from the single currency could be triggered by the concerns of the ECB reported by the Financial Times. According to the City newspaper, the most exposed banks in Turkey, in addition to Unicredit, are the Spanish BBVA (-5,55% in Madrid) and the French BNP Paribas (-2,99% in Paris) and the European central bank is afraid the risk of contagion; the situation is not critical but is being monitored closely. Sales also penalized Deutsche Bank (-4,08% in Frankfurt). According to data from the Bank for International Settlements, German institutions are exposed to 17,4 billion dollars in Turkey, an amount slightly higher than the Italian ones (16,9 billion) but significantly lower than the French ones (38,4. 82,3 billion) Spanish (XNUMX billion).
The session is instead positive for oil. Dropping to a seven-week low yesterday, crude oil is bouncing on the Nymex. The September contract is up 1,6% to 67,86 dollars a barrel, highs for the day. The International Energy Agency has raised estimates of global crude oil demand growth in 2019 by 110 barrels a day to 1,5 million barrels, while warning that there are risks posed by ongoing trade tensions and changes in the balance on supplies. Brent also appreciates, 72,89 dollars, +1,14%.
