Utilities and banks, together with two big caps such as Telecom (-3,09%) and Atlantia (-2,91%), weighed down Piazza Affari today, which closed with a drop of 0,86% to 25.686 points, among the worst in Europe, after a flat morning. The ending is also red for bonds, in the aftermath of a brilliant session, favored by the decisions of the ECB, which has chosen a moderate reduction in pandemic purchases, finding a clever balance between hawks and doves. The spread between Italian and German ten-year bonds rises to 103 basis points (+1,36), and the BTP rate returns to +0,7%. In the rest of Europe: Frankfurt -0,1%; Paris -0,46%; Madrid -1,21%. Slightly up Amsterdam +0,15% and London +0,06%. The mood of the continental markets in the afternoon was affected by the change of sign of Wall Street which, after an appropriate start, moved into slightly negative territory where it currently deals in particular with the Dow Jones and S&P500, which could end the fifth session down.
Apparently the phone call between the presidents of the US and China is not enough to fuel the appetite for risk today and not even the jump in oil, with Brent chasing 73 dollars a barrel and helping energy stocks. On the other side of the balance, political differences on vaccination obligations, fears for the Delta variant and its consequences on the recovery weigh more, precisely at a time when the Fed seems willing to start tapering within the year. Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland reiterates it again today. And to support it, new signs of inflation are arriving, which are reflected in the surge in producer prices in the United States in August: +0,7% compared to the previous month, against expectations for +0,6%, and +8,3 .8,2% (estimated +25%) YoY, a record increase. In terms of central banks, there was a rise in interest rates of 6,75 points, to XNUMX% by Russia to deal with inflationary dynamics.
In the EU there is news from the finance ministers of the Eurogroup, who seem far from reaching an agreement on the reform of the budgetary rules for the post-Covid period. As if nothing had happened, the usual scheme that sees the various countries lined up on opposing fronts is re-proposed: on the one hand, the South with France in favor of public investments to finance the ecological and digital transition, on the other the countries of the North , in defense of the current rules, with Germany, orphan of Merkel and close to the elections, very cold on any change. In fact, Minister Olaf Scholz appears extremely cautious and careful not to touch reforms that call into question the stability pact. Furthermore, for the beautiful country today is the news that the European Commission, with the green light for Ita, believes that the two state loans for a total amount of 900 million euros granted to Alitalia in 2017 are illegal under EU rules on the matter of state aid. Italy must therefore recover this aid plus interest. On the currency market, the euro-dollar exchange rate moved little, at around 1,182.
In Piazza Affari there are only six blue chips in green: Stm +1,59%; Banca Generali +1,04%; Campari +0,72%; EXOR +0,58%; Diasorin +0,29%; Stellantis +0,1%. The trail of declines starts from Telecom, followed by Atlantia and continues with Inwit -2,44%; Hera -2,37%; Enel -2,06%; A2a -1,99%. Among the banks, Mediobanca -1,75% stands out, but the entire sector is weak. In Unipol insurance companies -1,83%. Generali sells 1,77%, while Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and Leonardo Del Vecchio round up, albeit slightly, their shareholdings in Leone. The Roman entrepreneur, through Fincal, yesterday bought 200 thousand shares, bringing himself to 6,01% of the capital of the Trieste company. The owner of Luxottica instead moved the day before yesterday, through Delfin, taking over 263 thousand shares on the market and reaching 4,93%. All this while the game for the renewal of the top management of Generali has now come alive, which sees as its first appointment a nomination committee, probably for 14 September, and then a board of directors on 27 September.
Italgas, positive at the start, dropped 0,58%, despite the fact that, yesterday evening, the Greek privatization agency Hradf indicated the company as the 'preferred bidder' in the tender for the sale of 100% of the gas distribution network, Goddess Infrastructure. SocGen raised the recommendation to "buy" from "hold" on the stock, raising the target price to 6,40 euros from the previous 5,60 euros. Again SoGen instead cut the recommendation on Snam (-1,81%) to "hold" from "buy", with a target price of 5,20 euros from 5,40. Outside the main basket, Tod's partially deflated (-5,92%), after the leap on the eve following a half-year better than estimates.
