You can never rest assured: the accounts of the cooperative banks worse than expected, the wait for the Moody's verdict on the rating, theBundesbank fund on Italy, they put under pressure Piazza Affari and the spread. The Ftse Mib closes at -0,45%, in a contrasting European context, Madrid -0,64%, Paris +0,04%, Frankfurt +0,21%, London +0,4%.
Bonds are back in check: the differential between the Italian 193.20-year bond and the German bund rises to 2,49 basis points (+2,27%) and the yield to XNUMX%. The country's image today suffers in the words of Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank. “Italy – he says – has disappointed the expectations of those who had bet that the consolidation efforts undertaken before entering the monetary union would continue”.
Again on the European front, however, a step forward was recorded in the Greece chapter (today the Athens Stock Exchange closed up by 2,52%). A meeting should have taken place during the day between the creditors and the International Monetary Fund to find a solution that would allow the unblocking of loans for around 7 billion. A credit necessary for Greece to repay 1,4 billion to the ECB in April and 7 billion to European creditors in July.
While the old continent shows off a showdown every day, the race for records starts again on the other side of the ocean. Wall Street, after the peaks reached yesterday, is trying to surpass itself with the main stocks all on the rise. The "phenomenal" tax intervention expected by Donald Trump sends the markets into raptures, even if Fitch judges the current administration "a risk to the international economic conditions and the global fundamentals of the ratings" of the States.
The euro-dollar exchange rate is slightly moved, (1,064), oil instead puts the turbo, Brent +2,1%, 56,8 dollars a barrel and gold goes up and down, but recovers compared to yesterday, +0,42 %, $1.233.64 an ounce. On the macro front: Italian industrial production reaches a 16-year high; there are signs of a slowdown in production in the UK; in the United States, January import prices show a positive change of 0,4% on a monthly basis, but consumer confidence is expected to drop sharply in February, signaling a deterioration in sentiment after the jump at the beginning of the year.
Milan reduces its losses a little in the final, but remains in the red above all with the popular ones in free fall. In the first place Bper, -7,83%, after yesterday's accounts, with the 2016 profit plummeting by 90% and the consequent dividend almost halved. In the wake Banco Bpm -5,32%, which lifts the veil on the accounts tonight. Sales on Ubi, -5,73%, which maintains its dividend, even after a fourth quarter with a loss of 75,6 million for extraordinary charges and loan adjustments, with the net write-down of the stake in Atlante of 52,9 million EUR. Furthermore, according to CEO Victor Massiah, the bank will vote on the capital increase (for the purchase of the three good banks) at the balance sheet meeting on April 7, if all goes according to plan. Mediobanca is in trouble, -1,14%, despite a better-than-expected profit in the last quarter of last year. It stands out from the rest of the Unicredit company, +0,56%, which today received a strong buy from S&P Global Market Intelligence, which raised the recommendation from hold and the target price from 13 to 16 euros, because there is optimism about the implementation of the strategic plan. Azimuth is also good: +0,95%.
Down Unipol -1,32% and Unipolsai -1,05%. The 2016 preliminary results of Unipol Gruppo Finanziario (UGF) reveal a net profit reduced to 535 million from 579 million in 2015. Meanwhile, CEO Carlo Cimbri is thinking about the future of Unipol Banca: "we could arrange for a corporate spin-off, creating a bank in bonis and a bad bank under the control of UGF”. Objective: to make the institute more attractive in this phase of mergers in the sector.
Outside the financial sector sales on Telecom -2,55%, while Buzzi stands out, +2,75%, after the results better than expectations in terms of profitability and the positive estimates for next year. Broadly positive session for Brembo +1,31%. Outside of the Ftse Mib, Gefran's exploits should be noted, which closed the day with an 11% increase.
