“Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes” we read in the Aeneid. And the markets yesterday remembered Virgil's words ("I distrust Greeks even when they bring gifts") after noting that the "gift" from Tsipras and Varoufakis ("the agreement with the EU is in the pipeline" ) was nothing more than a bluff denied both by Christine Lagarde, general manager of the Monetary Fund, and by various exponents of the Eurozone, including Wolfgang Schaeuble: the agreement, if any, will arrive only on Sunday evening. But the road is still long.
Meanwhile, the Chinese stock market bubble has burst. In Shanghai, the price list has lost more than 10% in the last two days. The fall in Shenzhen was slightly less dramatic, even though the Chinese Nasdaq index has risen by 91% compared to January. The landslide, a consequence of the investor public's rush to buy, did not rock Hong Kong +0,4%.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange, on the other hand, continues to break records. The Nikkei (-0,3%) is starting to close the eleventh session higher in a row: it hasn't happened since 1988. The index is at its highest since the year 0,2. The Greek syndrome instead hit Wall Street: Dow Jones -500%, S&P 0,13 -017%. The Nasdaq is down 3,4% from Wednesday's record highs. Leap forward in sales of new homes in April: +2006%, the best figure since XNUMX. The updated data on GDP for the first quarter will be released today.
MILAN -0,4%, THE BTP AUCTION IS A HALF FLOP
In Milan, the FtseMib index fell by 0,4%, yielding only a small part of Wednesday's gains (+2,3%). The Italian stock exchange continues to perform better than the other markets: the FTSE MIB index is just 1% from the highs of early April, against 4,5% for the Eurostoxx and 5.75% for the Frankfurt DAX. “The technical framework for our index is becoming decidedly interesting”, points out Anthilia strategist Giuseppe Sersale.
The Paris Stock Exchange lost 1%, Frankfurt -0,9%, Madrid -0,7%. Government bonds moved little: the BTP is traded at a yield of 1,85%, practically unchanged compared to yesterday. Spread at 132. The outcome of the month-end auction was not brilliant; a total of 6,934 billion of five- and ten-year BTPs and of the Ccteu June 2022 absorbed, out of a maximum offer of 7 billion. The five-year yield was at its highest since January (0,85%) and since December for the ten-year (1,83%).
CHIPS IN FERMENT, STM SUPERSTAR
The star of StM shines brightly in Piazza Affari, up 3,3% following the news of new merger operations in the semiconductor sector. The Sox index (Philadelphia Semiconductor Index) closed up 3,6%, reaching its highest level since January 2001. In particular, a Singaporean company, Avago (+8%), concluded the purchase of the American Broadcom (+22%), company specializing in chips for wireless technologies. The deal is valued at nearly $37 billion and is the largest acquisition ever in the semiconductor industry. Stm stock gains 26% since the beginning of the year.
SEADRILL'S FORECASTS WEIGHT ON SAIPEM (-3%).
WTI crude is traded at 57,1 dollars a barrel (-0,7%), Brent at 62,1 dollars (+0,1%). Among the oil sectors negative news for Saipem down 3% driven by the Norwegian Seadrill, specialized in deep water drilling, which lost 5% on the Oslo Stock Exchange after the management announced that the second half of 2015 and all 2016 will be difficult due to adverse market conditions: oil companies continue to hold back on spending despite the partial recovery in oil prices.
Eni loses 0,6%. Tenaris closed down 1,4. Saras marks a cautious increase of 0,2% to 1,513 euros.
FINMECCANICA AT THE HIGHEST SINCE 2009
Weak game Finmeccanica turned up yesterday closing the session with an increase of 2,1% which pushes the quotation to the highest since November 2009 at 12,20 euros. The news that the sale of Ansaldo Breda and Ansaldo Sts to the Japanese Hitachi could be postponed between October and December due to the delay in the authorization of the Chinese antitrust for Hitachi, which boasts a very strong presence in China, did not matter.
Other industrial stocks finished down: Fiat Chrysler fell by 0,1%, Cnh Industrial -1,9%. Pirelli -0,77%. Credit Suisse confirmed the overweight recommendation on the stock and the target price of 16,3 euros, explaining that in the medium term the share could reach 20 euros.
TELECOM-ENEL, THE ALLIANCE RUNS ON FIBER
In telecommunications Telecom Italia +0,5%. President Giuseppe Recchi confirmed that contacts with Enel have been underway for a few days to evaluate the opportunity to make a common front on the fiber match. Enel canceled the morning's decreases and closed with a slight increase of 0,2%.
GENERALI HOLDS DOWN, MANAGEMENT RISES
Generali (-1,43%) pays for the weakness of the European insurance sector. The Eurostoxx Insurance index is the worst today together with the Automotive index with a loss of 1,3% (the global Eurostoxx index -0,3%). Credit Suisse reiterated the Neutral recommendation, slightly adjusting the target price to 19,20 euros from 19,30 euros.
DZ Bank has decided to reward the innovations that emerged during the presentation of the company's new strategic plan. The recommendation passed to Buy from Sell, the target price was raised to 20 euros from the previous 17 euros. Out of 35 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, 12 recommend buying, with an average target price of 18,80 euros.
Among the banks, Unicredit marks a drop of 1%, Intesa -0,4%, MontePaschi -1,3%. Positive Banca Carige (+3,23%) volatile in anticipation of the capital increase of 850 million euro which should start on 8 June. In the coming days there could be an evaluation of the information prospectus on the increase.
Among asset management stocks, Azimut +0,9%, Mediolanum -0,6%.
MEDIOBANCA PROMOTES ITALCEMENTI
Talcementi +4,05%: Mediobanca Securities left the rating unchanged on the outperform share and the target price at 8 euro, highlighting the words of the CEO, Carlo Pesenti, regarding the expected improvement in the second quarter of the year.
In luxury, purchases on Brunello Cucinelli (+1,43%), Ferragamo (+1,1%) and Yoox (+0,8).
