A BREAK OF OXYGEN FOR ASIAN STOCK EXCHANGES
SHANGAI DOWN (-1,4%) BUT NOT FOR BTPs
Breath of fresh air for Asian stock exchanges. Stocks rallied discretely on the back of the rebound in copper and other raw materials which allowed Bhp Billiton to gain 2,4%. Of note in the Nikkei 225 (+0,7%) is the rise of Fanuc +3,8%: the robot manufacturer has recovered from the collapse (-15%) of last week. The MSCI Asia Pacific index rose 0,5%. Neither Taiwan -1,7% nor the Shanghai Stock Exchange, down by 1,4% are participating in the rebound; both markets were closed for public holidays on Monday, which was also a day of heavy losses for Asian markets. No confirmation, for now, of the news of purchases of Italian Btp by the Chinese sovereign wealth fund, the Cic. But Wall Street's rebound after the scoop on the Beijing bankers' talks in Rome made it possible to curb the hemorrhage of sales in Asia as well.
THE CHINESE LAND IN ROME. THE FT REVEALS ITS TALKS WITH TREMONTI
WALL STREET BELIEVES IN THE "WHITE KNIGHT" AND REVERSES THE COURSE
The Chinese are coming. It was enough for the Financial Times to launch, in the online edition, the scoop of the visit of Lou Jiwei, the head of the Chinese Cic (200 billion to invest), in Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, for Wall Street to be seized by a surprising euphoria: the he Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed back to +0,7%% after sailing under (even by 1,6%) for the entire session. And, according to observers, the most important reason for the u turn is the hope that China will buy "significant" lots of Italian government bonds, at the invitation of Giulio Tremonti. The minister, having given up his role of anti-China champion, would have asked the representatives of the Dragon to increase the purchases of BTPs up to a quota of 10 per cent from the current 4. In this way, Italy could remedy the imminent end of the purchases by the ECB that have a "temporary nature". There have been talks at the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, confirms the Ministry of Economy. But the meeting with the representatives of the fund (which already collaborates with the German Kwe and the French Caisse) had been expected for some time and was not focused on the purchase of the Bonds. The news of the Rome-Beijing axis, real or presumed to be, has however provided the opportunity for a rebound to the financial markets which now consider Greece's default to be highly probable with the risk of a possible domino effect destined to also involve the 'Italy.
BROADCOM BIG HIT. RECOVERY CHIPS (INCLUDING STM)
IN VIEW OF MC GRAW HILL STEW AND THE S&P QUOTE
In any case, the US markets all closed in positive territory. The Dow Jones at 11.069 points (+69 points or 0,6%), the Nasdaq at 2,495 points (+27 points or +1,10%) and the Standard & Poor's at 1.162 (+8 points or +0,70 %) The news of the purchase by Broadcom of Netflix System with a valuation 57% higher than Wall Street prices also contributed to favoring the rebound of the US stock market. It is the confirmation that the depressed quotations of the stock market can favor future deals, starting from the world of technology. The operation gave wings to Intel; in Italy Stm is the only stock in the Mib basket to close in positive territory. But there were other reasons to revive the prices of the US Stock Exchange: the recovery plan of Bank of America, which announced the cut of 30 employees; the news of McGraw Hill's next stew, now decided by the board of the US giant. Soon, therefore, I will be listed on Standard & Poor's.
THE TREASURY PLACES 11 BILLION BOTS BUT THE YIELD RISES TO 4,1%
STILL A STEP AHEAD OF THE SPREAD ON THE BUND: 385 STOCK
While awaiting Chinese intervention, the BTPs continue to experience turbulent, indeed terrible, days. Yesterday the spread between Btp and Bund rose to 385, just over 20 points from the peaks reached before the intervention of the ECB. The umpteenth drop in yields on the bund, which fell to 1,73%, also favored the widening of the spread. But the fact remains that the BTP 10, on the eve of today's auction, has risen to 5,54% and that the gap from the Spanish Bonos remains at 20 Bp. Yesterday the Treasury placed 11,5 billion BOTs, of which 4 quarterly and 7,5 with an annual maturity. The offer was fully subscribed, but only after a significant sacrifice on the yield front: 4,1% against the previous 2,9 for 12-month bonds, 1,9% for quarterly bonds. This is not good news in view of the Btp auction: the Bt, in fact, are mostly subscribed by Italian private individuals (especially in situations such as the current one, in which risk appetite plummets) while the Btp 10 are governed by demand of large operators. Who knows, perhaps the China effect will already be felt at auction time. While waiting for orders from Beijing, the ECB continues to support the BTPs: 13,96 billion of purchases in the past week, the most intense.
MARKETS GIVE 96% THE IMPENDING GREEK DEFAULT
FRENCH BANKS SINKING. NUCLEAR SHOCK IN PARIS
Et voila. Under the pressure of the possible default of Greece (which the markets, given the level reached by the CDS, almost certainly estimate at 98%) the epicenter of the crisis has moved towards the West: first Athens, then Rome. Since yesterday, Paris has been in the eye of the storm. No one doubts, in fact, that Moody's will probably proceed on Thursday with the downgrading of the three large transalpine public companies, the most exposed to Greece. And so Credit Agricole suffered a loss of 10,64%, Socgen -10,7%. Bnp Paribas leads the race to the bottom -12,35%. Misfortunes, moreover, never come alone: the nuclear accident in the Gard, in addition to weighing on EDF prices (-6,3%) has contributed to undermining the lack of confidence in Parisian finance which no longer has the illusion of escaping to the crisis of the European periphery. At the end of the session, the Paris Stock Exchange lost 4,3%, snatching Milan - 3,8% from the little coveted black jersey that Piazza Affari seemed to subscribe to on the most negative days. On the contrary, the London Stock Exchange holds -1,4%, despite the takeoff of the banking reform (with the separation between investment banking and commercial banking9 which the City does not like,
UNICREDIT UNDER FIRE IN MILAN (-10%)
AND INTESA GHIZZONI EXPLAINS THE CAPITAL STRATEGIES AT THE FT
In Milan – 3,8% in any case, the landslide of the banking system continues. The most targeted stock was Unicredit -10,)%, followed by Intesa -9,5%. The CEO of Piazza Cordusio, Federico Ghizzoni yesterday admitted in an interview with the Financial Times that the issue of strengthening the bank's capital is on the agenda. Work is being done in all directions, explained Ghizzoni: issue of securities similar to capital, sale of assets, operations to lower the risk threshold. The word recapitalization remains taboo, but by now the signals are multiplying also in management Meanwhile, on the front of Libyan shareholders, Ghizzoni minimizes: that share, which the new governors of Tripoli have no intention of selling, would in any case find several potential interested buyers. The decline was not limited to the banking sector. As usual, Fiat loses its hits -2,9%, preceded by Finmeccanica -3,3% Mediaset -4,6%, but also A2A -4,1% and Saipem - 4,6%.
