Piazza Affari almost completely canceled the losses at the end of the session in the wake of Matteo Renzi's intervention, which opened a new phase by asking for a government until 2018, and the improvement of Wall Street. The FtseMib closed down by 0,17%, with the spread at 205 basis points.
In the morning the Treasury sold all the 3,5 billion of the maximum offer of the three-year BTP in December 2016, with a rate that fell to 1,41%, updating the minimum since the introduction of the euro already marked last month at 1,51%. Placed entirely, for €2,5 billion, also for the seven-year May 2021, whose rate drops to 3,02% and all 30-year BTPs in September 2044 for €1,5 billion with a yield of 4,59% against 5,19 % of last July.
The main European Stock Exchanges were positive with the exception of London: London -0,23%, Madrid +0,18%, Frankfurt +0,6%, Paris +0,17%, where Bnp Paribas collapsed after the quarter's data with profit at 127 million, below expectations.
In the morning, the ECB released its usual monthly bulletin in which it states that it expects "a slow recovery of the product in the euro area". The growth prospects, he writes, "continue to be oriented downwards". The uncertainties of the world markets weigh heavily, especially the emerging countries, but also internal demand and an export that could disappoint expectations. The ECB then notes that Greece, Spain and Italy are at the top of the youth unemployment ranking among 18 Eurozone countries, "on values between 50 and 60% in Greece and Spain" and "close to 40% in Italy , Portugal and Cyprus”.
After a bad start to poor economic data, Wall Street turned higher. At the close of Europe, the Dow Jones rose by 0,2%, the Nasdaq by 0,41%, the S&P500 by 0,23%. The euro-dollar exchange rate rose to 1,3675 (+0,7%).
Retail sales in the United States fell 0,4% in January, well above the 0,1% decline expected by analysts. Net of the auto component, the index was instead unchanged compared to the previous month. Weekly jobless claims in the United States rose by 8 to 339 in the week ending Feb. 8, more than analysts' expectations for 330 claims. On the other hand, corporate inventories are doing better than analysts' expectations, which increased by 0,5% in December.
At the corporate level Time Warner Cable flies after announcing that it will be acquired 100% by Comcast. The high-end supermarket chain Whole Foods loses ground (-7,88%) in the aftermath of a disappointing outlook, but so does Cisco System after quarterly revenues down by 8%.
In Piazza Affari the banks move at two speeds: Banco Popolare +4,4%, Bper +1,8%, Ubi +0,84%. Mediobanca down -1,39%, Unicredit -0,34%, Bpm -0,27%, Mps -1%, but also asset management with azimuth retracing 1,92% and Mediolanum down 1,73% . The luxury of Ferragamo also falls, -1,7%. In evidence Mediaset (+1,44%) and Enel (0,89%). Eni (-0,18%) after the presentation of the 2014-2017 industrial plan. For 2014, the dividend that will be proposed to Eni's board of directors is expected to be 1,12 euro per share, with an increase of 1,8% compared to 2013. “Eni's distribution policy continues to be a combination of dividend and buyback”, underlined Scaroni. Saipem -1,5%.
On the energy front, purchases of the stock of the multiutility Acsm Agam (+3,4%): the merger project of the Como-Monza company with the contiguous multiutility Gelsia (which would give life to a 600 million turnover group) is in preparation to the management of Acsm Agam which intends to submit it to the shareholders "by spring", aiming to carry out the merger operation by the end of the year.
