The resurgence of infections in Europe, the quarantine in Great Britain for those coming from France and the consequent diplomatic crisis between the two countries, the disappointing marcoeconomic data, send the continental price lists into the red, on the eve of a mid-August that dances with Covid and it forces Spain to put padlocks on discos, while some Italian regions have established restrictions on access.
The closing for Piazza Affari is on the verge of 20 thousand points, down by 1,13%. Paris -1,58%, London -1,5% and Madrid -1,32% are doing worse. Frankfurt contains losses at 0,76%. The stocks related to tourism and travel suffer, due to the new reins after yesterday France recorded the record figure of 2669 infections, Germany also badly with 1449 and Spain 1700.
Wall Street is cautious and, after a slightly declining start, is trying to recover at least with the Dow Jones and the S&P 500, pending the high-level trade talks between the US and China, scheduled for the weekend, during which compliance with the bilateral agreements (phase 1) signed in January. However, the world has changed since the beginning of the year and this time elapsed between then and now, marked by the macabre pace of the pandemic, has certainly not improved relations between the two superpowers. Furthermore, another week has gone by without the talks between Congress and the White House on the stimulus plan having reached a conclusion.
Macroeconomic data also disappoint. In China, retail sales fell by 1,1% over the year in July, while the aim was for a minimum increase; industrial production grew by 4,8%, against forecasts of +5, in line with June. Employment in Europe according to flash estimates by Eurostat is very bad: -2,8% in the Eurozone and -2,6% in the EU in the second quarter. The GDP of the Eurozone also confirmed its decline by 12,1% on the previous quarter and by 15% on the year. Retail sales in the USA are not good either, which increased by 1,2% in July, against almost double expectations, +2,3%. In short, a long trail of damage from the lockdown, with the prospect that the recovery of coronavirus infections also in Europe could be a prelude to the dreaded second autumn wave.
As far as Italy is concerned, Bnkitalia also reports that at the end of June the public debt reached a new record, 2.530,6 billion, 20,5 billion more than in May against a monthly requirement of 20,6 billion. In June, tax revenues accounted for in the state budget fell by 6,5 billion (-19,9%) compared to a year earlier to 26,2 billion, with a decrease in the first six months of 2020 of 19,4 billion ( -10,3%) to 169,9 billion. Weigh - explains Bankitalia - the suspension of tax payments ordered by the anti-Covid decrees and the worsening of the macroeconomic situation. Treasury liquidity decreased slightly (-0,8 billion) to 60,7 billion.
However, no repercussions have hit government bonds: the spread is still slightly down today to 141 basis points (-0,84%), while the BTP rate drops to 0,99%. The session is negative for equities, even if the balance for the month currently remains active at 5%.
The blue chip with the worst performance is Atlantia -3,23%. The stock, which has risen after four consecutive sessions, is affected by the difficulties in the negotiations with the government for the change of control, the entry of CDP and the exit of Atlantia. Prime Minister Conte said in an interview with La Stampa that many details are still missing to be defined in order to reach an agreement.
Leonardo down -2,48%; Interpump -2,3%; Stm -2,41%. The banking sector is clouding, in great light in this period. Bper yields 1,35%. Mps -3,38%. Against the trend, Unicredit, +0,41%, which is one of the two big caps in positive territory, together with Telecom +0,85%.
Outside the main basket, the I Grandi Viaggi stock lost 1,67%, penalized like the entire European sector by the new travel restrictions due to Covid-19, in particular the quarantine obligation introduced by Great Britain for those returning from France . The enthusiasm of Sourcesense does not stop, +23,57%, the freshman who debuted with a bang at Aim two days ago.
The company is the leader and forerunner in Italy in the integration of enterprise-ready solutions based on Open Source technologies. On the foreign exchange market, the euro-dollar moved little, with the exchange rate around 1,18. The mid-August watershed also holds back gold, 1946,35 dollars an ounce. Weak oil: Brent -0,51%, 44,73 dollars a barrel.
