Day of nervousness on European markets, waiting for signals on the timing of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve and to understand if OPEC and non-OPEC countries will find an agreement on the containment of oil production.
Continent price lists close almost all in red, while Wall Street, fluctuating, opens slightly lower. Yesterday's disappointing start to the corporate earnings season also infected Asian stock markets overnight, which stopped in negative territory: -1,09% Tokyo; -0,60% Hong Kong; -0,22% Shanghai.
The Ftse Mib index of Piazza Affari floats around parity today and closes at -0,02%. Negatives are above all Mediaset -4%, worst stock of the day, penalized by the uncertainties about Premium and Telecom which loses 2,91%. However, the bankers give breathing space to the price list. There is a change in sentiment for the sector, after a report by Citigroup, which deems “the latest results encouraging, asset quality is starting to improve and the main nodes are well known and reflected in the current low valuations, also due to fears on the stability of the system”. Banco Popolare, +6,07% and Banca Popolare di Milano, +1,21% are effervescent, for an aggregation that seems ever closer and more credible, on which today there is a position taken by the general secretaries of the credit unions: "Bpm members - they argue - have the responsibility to vote not only for the future of their bank but for the entire Italian banking system”.
Sharply up Ubi Banca (+6%), Unicredit (+2,39%), Banca Mediolanum (+1,55%). Mps recovers 0,76% and, according to press sources, within the next week the members Axa, Falciai and the Mps foundation will meet to examine the names for the presidency, a shortlist in which Fabrizio Saccomanni also appears. And the Minister of Economy Pier Carlo Padoan says: "Measures of public support or nationalization are not envisaged for MPS, nor is the opening of a resolution procedure".
live technology (Stmicroelectronics -2,68%), driven by the collapse of Ericsson in Stockholm, with a European sector already down by 2% and weighed down by Samsung's problems. Talks between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Samsung for a partnership in the auto sector are also stalled, precisely because the South Korean group is focused on resolving the Galaxy Note 7 issue. According to Bloomberg, the two companies have not even found yet an agreement on the valuation of Magneti Marelli and on how to structure the operation. The negotiations remain, but a signing within the year is unlikely. The oil companies did well, with Tenaris and Saipem, less brilliant Eni which left 0,67% on the ground.
Outside the main index, there is news on Mondo TV, European player in animation production and distribution, listed in the Star segment of Borsa Italiana. Little Heidi drives the stock up more than 3% today. In fact, the subsidiary Mondo TV Iberoamerica, together with the co-producer Alianzas Producciones, concluded an agreement with Nickelodeon Latin-America for the latter's entry into the production of the live teen series “Heidi, Bienvenida a casa”, currently under production. The series will be broadcast in prime time in Latin American countries starting as early as the first months of 2017. This agreement, the company claims, already allows for significant coverage of the production budget and developments for the toy and licensing and merchandising in Latin America "they will have a very positive impact on the group's 2017-2020 accounts".
Good news and farewell on the stock market: after 91 years Italcementi leaves Piazza Affari following the integration into the German HeidelbergCement. The share, already suspended in the sessions of 10 and 11 October, is replaced in the price list by Brembo, an Italian manufacturer of brakes for vehicles.
The day also suffers from the anticipation of the opening of Wall Street and the publication in the evening of the minutes of the meeting of the Federal Reserve on September 21st. When is the US rate hike coming? Tempers are somewhat comforted by the declarations of William Dudley, president of the New York Fed and voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, according to whom the normalization of monetary policy should take place gradually.
The performance of oil is also putting pressure on the markets. According to reports from Radiocor, Oppenheimer analysts affirm that the OPEC negotiations for a cut in production "It's just talk". Oil in November at the Nymex slipped by 1% to 50,25 dollars a barrel. Today the Brendt loses 1,07%, gold 0,10%. The euro falls against the dollar by 0,40%. Mohammed Saleh al-Sada, Qatar's energy minister, after a meeting in Istanbul with colleagues from some OPEC countries, however announces that Russia, a non-cartel member country, has been invited to an OPEC technical meeting on 28 and 29 October.
Meanwhile, bank restructuring continues to contain costs: Lloyds Banking Group, the largest retail bank in Great Britain, which has the government as its main shareholder, will cut 1.230 jobs as part of the savings plan announced two years ago. Stocks in London started down: -1,16%, while the Ftse 100 index marked -0,2%.
Bnl, of the French group Bnp Paribas, has cInstead, he communicated a reorganization to the unions which foresees by 2020 the closure of 100 branches and almost 700 redundanciesamong those eligible for retirement. Other world news: Inflation in Portugal rose by 0,7% quarter-on-quarter and 0,6% year-on-year in September. In China, car sales return to record levels in September: +26,1% compared to 2015, for a total of 2,56 million cars sold in one month.
