The negotiations on the duties are proceeding well, to the point that the details are already being discussed. The central banks, the latest confirmation comes from the ECB minutes, are preparing to supply new oxygen to the markets. But, to mortify optimism, the data takes care of it: the economy is losing blows almost everywhere, from Asia to Europe, but America is no longer an exception. And the stock exchanges acknowledge that the mere medicine of the measures that central banks will take will not be enough to boost profits. And so, while waiting for Fitch's rating on Italy, the financial week is starting to close in a humble tone.
Asian stocks are weak: Tokyo's Nikkei falls by 0,3%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0,3%. CSI 300 of the Shanghai and Shenzhen lists -0,1%. Kospi of Seoul -0,1%.
The sale of new homes in China slows down, inflation does not rise in Japan. Same script yesterday on Wall Street: Dow Jones -0,4%, S&P 500 -0,39%. NASDAQ -0,35%. Signs of a slowdown in the economy are coming from both the Philadelphia and Atlanta Feds.
NIKES (-1%) CRUSH ON LIVE TV
The misadventure of Nike (-1%) finds ample prominence in the news: after only 22 seconds of play, the soles of the sneakers worn by basketball star Zion Williamson came off on live TV.
On the Nasdaq, Alphabet fell 1,7% on news that another major ad investor, phone giant AT&T, has decided to scrap its YouTube presence. According to rumors, Disney, Nestlé, Kellogs and many others have also left, upset by the fact that the video platform's content distribution systems do not sufficiently protect posts from minors.
STOCKS INCREASE, BUT OIL HOLDS HOLD
The EIA (Energy Information Administration) reported that weekly oil inventories in the United States increased by 3,7 million barrels, a figure above consensus expectations (2,6 million) and above the API forecasts (1,3 .XNUMX million). This is the fifth consecutive week of increase.
Despite the negative figure, Brent remains just above 67 dollars a barrel, the highest since mid-November.
Positive in Piazza Affari Saipem (+0,4%) and Tenaris (+1%), which recovered the initial losses.
EURO STOPPED, MAY ASKS FOR MORE TIME
The euro was stable this morning against the dollar at 1,133. Brexit news coming from Bloomberg: it seems that Theresa May is preparing to ask the European Union for another three months to give Parliament time to legislate on the new terms of the divorce.
The minutes of the last ECB meeting revealed a gloomy judgment on the euro zone economy during the latest monetary policy meeting, urging the launch of cheaper loans to banks. The minutes of the meeting show it. The ECB will meet on March 7 and monetary policy makers are expected to discuss the new bank loans, although a final decision could still take months.
Meanwhile, the PMI manufacturing index fell to 49,2 points from 50,5 in January (50,5 points by consensus). Thanks to the good performance of services, the composite index stood at 51,4 points, up from 51 in January and above consensus expectations at 50,9 points.
After the negative start, the Italian paper changed direction in a session in which thin trading amplified the fluctuations of the Italy-Germany spread and of the XNUMX-year reference rate.
SPREAD AT 270, YIELD AT 2,83%
In closing, the yield gap between BTPs and Bunds on the 270-year segment stopped at 268 basis points after fluctuations between 280 and 2,83. Similarly, the 2,90-year benchmark rate closed the session at 2,80% also in this case after a maximum sitting at XNUMX% and a minimum at XNUMX%.
Tonight, when the Treasury is grappling with the auction of Ctz and Btpei for a maximum of 3,5 billion, Via XX Settembre will shortly announce the quantities of the 6-month Bot that will be auctioned on Tuesday 26 February.
Closing on the secondary, the Ctz in November 2020 offered a yield of 0,660% while last month it was assigned 0,366%, marking the lowest since May.
BUSINESS SQUARE IN RED, FRANKFURT STARTS AGAIN
Piazza Affari, the only one in Europe, closed in the red: -0,47% to 20.209 points. After a weak start along with other European stocks, the main Milanese index accelerated lower in the late morning.
Positive closing for Frankfurt (+0,19%) for the third consecutive day, at the highest level since the beginning of December. The index gains 8% from the beginning of the year (Piazza Affari +10%). The purchases were also driven by the rumors about the new stimulus plan of the ECB which should also be addressed to financial companies linked to financial companies in the automotive sector.
Paris unchanged. Madrid salt (+0,19%). London -0,87% while the political situation continues to get confused. Three anti-Brexit Tory MPs have joined the patrol of ex-Labour supporters of Remain.
Barclays (+3,5%) closed 2018 with a lower profit than expected, due to provisions for possible Brexit losses and a difficult fourth quarter on the trading front. HSBC and RBS also made a similar decision.
JUVENTUS -11%: THE DEFEAT OF MADRID IS WORTH 150 MILLION
The slowdown in industrial production, the new rejection in Europe of the yellow-green government's economic policy weighed heavily. The judgement, certainly not benevolent, of Fitch is looming. But, most of all, Piazza Affari paid the penalty defeat of Juventus in the Champions League which greatly reduced the international caliber of the gold serial number of the Italian Stock Exchange. The decline, -11,11%, suspended several times, and dropped to 1,288 euros, was also strong because the share is recovering from a very strong performance on the stock exchange in recent months. The Juventus club recorded the worst performance of the entire Milanese price list. The loss of capitalization was also strong: over 150 million
MORE TROUBLE FOR PRYSMIAN IN WALES
Black day also for Prysmian (-9,5%). The WesternLink cable, an underwater power line between Wales and Scotland, has been temporarily out of order, due to a problem that the company is promptly trying to identify and resolve "with the least possible impact". A similar incident had already happened before. Mediobanca lowered the recommendation to Neutral from Outperform by lowering the target price to 21,3 euro from 23,7. Banca Akros instead cut the target price to 23 euros from 26,5, confirming the accumulated opinion.
THE TIM-VODAFONE AGREEMENT IS BORN ON 5G
Time +1%. The company has announced an agreement with Vodafone, its historical competitor: the two groups have announced that "they intend to start a partnership for sharing the active component of the 5G network, to evaluate the sharing of the active devices of the 4G network and to expand the current passive sharing arrangement”. Also envisaged is "the aggregation of the respective passive infrastructures into a single entity, for a total of 22 towers in Italy". The communication came at the end of Tim's board meeting, during which the industrial plan was approved and the accounts closed with a 1,4 billion red loss caused by 2,6 billion in write-downs.
MONCLER ADVANCES WITH “GENIUS”, PROMOTED BY SNAM
Weak session for bankers. Unicredit loses 2,5% underperforming the Italian sector index down by 1,4%. Banco Bpm and Bper are also bad, down by about 1%.
Worth noting is Snam (+0,62%): Banca Imi lowered the rating from buy to add, raising the target price to 4,8 euros from 4,6. Other utilities were positive: Terna closed at +1,09 %, followed by A2A (+0,66%), Enel (+0,27%) and Italgas (+0,12%). Atlantia is up 1,57%.
Among the positive ideas also Moncler (+1,8%) after the presentation of the second edition of the Genius project. More purchases on editorials with Il Sole 24 Ore in a volatility auction after a leap of 11,5% and Class Editori up by more than 12%.
