The Stock Exchanges retreat, waiting for news. Above all from Europe which is experiencing an agitated election eve which will be followed by the ECB board next Thursday. Asia is down, starting from Tokyo (-0,6%), Mumbai slows down (-0,22%) after the long rally. There is anticipation for tonight's Boj Kuroda governor's press conference.
Session dominated by selling on Wall Street pending the release of the minutes of the Fed meeting earlier this month which will be followed by a speech by Janet Yellen. The Dow Jones index lost 0,83%, the S&P 500 around 0,6% and the Nasdaq 0,7%. Note the slide of GM (-3,3%), after the decision to proceed with the recall of another 2,4 million vehicles with factory defects. So far the measure has affected around 13,5 million pieces.
All the main European stock exchanges are negative. The exceptions in Milan are the FtseMib index, which rose by 0,3%, and Madrid (+0,2%). The London Stock Exchange closed down by 0,6%, Paris -0,3%, Frankfurt -0,2%.
The approach of the European elections on Sunday 25 May weighs on the prices of government bonds: the BTP continues to be sold and the yield rose tonight to 3,25% (from 3,15% yesterday) with a widening spread on the Bund at 190 (+10 basis points). The differential between Bonos and the Bund is also under pressure, rising to 182 basis points for a yield of the former of 3,17%.
FSI WITHDRAWS FROM GENERALI, INTESA REBOUNDS
The Italian Strategic Fund (FSI), of Cdp, has sold about half of its stake in Generali -0,25% in recent weeks. At the meeting of 30 April, FSI was present with 4,48% of the Trieste company. This was confirmed by the president of Cdp Franco Bassanini at the presentation of a book on the Cassa. “A large part, around 50%, has already been sold at market prices. I think it will go on like this. We sold at market prices, we didn't set the price,” Bassanini added.
The protagonists of yesterday's rebound in Piazza Affari were the banks, starting with Intesa, which rose by 2,9%, accompanied by Popolare Milano (+2,8%) and Mediobanca (+2,6%). Popolare Emilia (+2,9%) also performed well, while Unicredit (+0,7%) and MontePaschI (+1,2%) recorded more contained increases.
Meanwhile, the strengthening of German banks continues. Deutsche Bank yesterday issued an Additional Tier 1 perpetual bond, divided into three tranches denominated in various currencies, for a total amount of 3,5 billion euros, in order to address concerns relating to its capital buffers. Meanwhile, Commerzbank is about to conclude the sale of real estate loans in Spain at a price between 3,7 and 3,9 billion euros against a face value between 4 and 4,5 billion.
ASIA AND LUXURY PUSH FIAT
Fiat closed with a gain of 1,7% at 7,37 euros. Fiat and Chrysler reported a 58 percent increase in sales in Asia to 21.800 vehicles in April. Maserati and Ferrari more than doubled April sales to 3.300 cars in April. Exane reiterated the underperform rating on the stock and the target price of 4,3 euros, seeing risks in the Alfa brand relaunch plan.
Still in the automotive sector, Pirelli advanced by 0,2%, with a negative result for Brembo -0,8%. Among other industrial values, Prysmian stands out (+1,1%) which announced a new 730 million euro contract in Germany to design and build the cabling of some offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea. Finmeccanica fell by 0,9%, StM -0,6%.
BLUE CHIPS, A2A AND MEDIASET IN EVIDENCE
Strong increase of A2A (+2,5%) after the formalization of the candidacies for the new board of directors. Among utilities, Enel closed unchanged, Atlantia fell by 0,9%, Terna -1,4%, Snam +0,3%. Eni -0,5% and Telecom Italia -1,6% finished down.
Mediaset was up (+2,34%), recovering ground after the decline following the quarterly: analysts are intent on assessing the possible impact of the tender for Serie A rights after the call for tenders was published yesterday. Among the luxury stocks with the exception of Yoox, which rebounded with a +6,3% after the recent declines. Tod's lost 2,8%.
ITALCEMENTI GOES ON THE COROLLASTER
In the rest of the price list, Recordati's sharp increase (+6,5%) should be noted. Italmobiliare also rose (+5,2%) while Italcementi experienced a day of high volatility: the share closed up 1,5%, at 7,51 euro, but fell to a low during the day of 7,05 euros (-4%) to then rebound by 7% up to a maximum of 7,89 euros.
In the morning, the cement company announced in a note that the definitive price of the takeover bid on the subsidiary Ciment Francais, an operation financed with a capital increase (500 million) will be equal to 79,5 euros per share.
Among the smaller capitalization stocks, Eems leaves over 15% on the ground. Yesterday evening the company announced its decision to submit an application for composition with creditors subject to article 161 of the bankruptcy law. Mondo TV resumes its march (+11,61%) at 1,875 euros. Energy Lab ended its first day of listing on Aim Italia with a drop of 3,33% to 1,74 euros.
