Piazza Affari reduced gains at the end of the session, but remained in positive territory gaining 0,19% a 22.368,29 points, and it is the only European list to do so: in fact, all the other Exchanges are in red, from London which loses almost a percentage point, to Paris and Madrid which yield about half a point each, up to Frankfurt which limits the damage with -0,29%.
The great protagonists of the Milan session are the banks, in particular the Popolari: it stands out on the FtseMib Bper, which earns almost 4%, Ubi Banca and Banco Bpm also do very well above 2%. Among them is Unipolsai, with an increase of 2,66%. However, there are exceptions: Unicredit loses 0,8%, Intesa Sanpaolo is flat and Banca Mediolanum, which is preparing to abandon the FtseMib on Friday 15 December, to make room for Pirelli starting on the 18th, gains only 0,21%.
Banks benefit fromopening by the ECB on the disputed plan on the treatment of NPLs. The head of banking supervision of the ECB, Daniele Nouy, said that Frankfurt could also delay the new rules, but for now remains firm on the central points of the proposal, admitting however that the timing indicated so far is too stringent for credit institutions.
The other financial drivers of the day are the record opening on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones surpassed 24 points for the first time in history. The S&P 500 also immediately hit new intraday highs. These indices, and the Nasdaq Composite, are set to end November with solid gains. Investors are hoping for the approval of the tax reform that US President Donald Trump has promised a year ago and which he hopes to bring home by Christmas. Perhaps today the Senate will put the draft developed by the Republicans to a vote, even if in the meantime another shocking news has arrived from overseas: after the threat of a nuclear war against North Korea, Trump also announced the torpedoing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
And then there is oil. OPEC oil producers' ministers have reached an agreement in principle to extend oil production cuts through the end of 2018, according to the Dow Jones news agency. The current OPEC agreement it foresees production cuts of about 1,8 million barrels per day and expires in March. Today crude oil prices closed mixed: a significant rise for Brent to +0,62% above 63 dollars a barrel, a slight decline instead for Wti to 57 dollars a barrel. However, the agreement did not excite investors in Italian energy stocks: Saipem fell by 3%, Eni saved itself on +0,36%, Tenaris did better on +0,66%.
It's really Saipem, despite the signing of a new 400 million contract for offshore activities in Saudi Arabia and West Africa, the worst stock on the FtseMib, but Ferrari, Exor and Mediaset are also in sharp contrast. The Btp Bund spread closed down today at 138,5 basis points.
