The numbers are modest, the hopes very high. Stephane Barcel, CEO of Moderna, a biotech company in Cambridge Massachusetts, unleashed the repressed spirits of the markets yesterday by announcing that tests on 45 volunteers who agreed to be guinea pigs for mRNA 1273 "in 25 could not have given better results".
MODERN +30% THANKS TO EIGHT HUMAN “CAVIAS”.
A second examination has already been started on eight patients who, thanks to a second dose of the drug, have developed "antibodies capable of fighting Covid-19 and preventing cell infection". Words that accompanied a 30% increase in the stock. This was enough to revive the markets all over the planet, unleashing the impulses repressed by the long lockdown and thus giving substance to a rebound that has infected, after Europe and Wall Street, also Asia.
TOKYO +1,8%, GOLD FLYING AGAIN
Tokyo's Nikkei 1,8%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1,7%, Shanghai Composite 0,5%, Seoul's Kospi 1,8%, S&P ASX 200 Sydney 2%.
The yen is down slightly. Little moved Brent oil, at 34,9 dollars a barrel after yesterday's rally: +7%.
Instead, after a pause, the rush of gold resumes: the safe haven par excellence returns to rise, +0,4% to 1.738 dollars an ounce, after yesterday's -0,7% at the close of the day.
GM AND FORD ACCELERATE, BOEING +10%
Yesterday was a field day for the US markets. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones index rose 3,9%. Better than the S&P 500 index (+3,15%) and the Nasdaq (-2,44%), proving that the "awakening" has affected the stocks most closely linked to the traditional industrial cycle.
Fly the car: GM +9,63%, Ford +8,37%. Boeing scores a 10% increase. In flight the titles of cruises and airlines.
COLD WAR AROUND BETWEEN USA AND CHINA
All finished? Absolutely not. Not only because the road to the vaccine is still long, but above all because there is a new Cold War in the air, with China replacing Washington as the major financier of the World Health Organization by paying two billion dollars. The US threatens to leave the organization: hatred against Beijing, now a central point of Donald Trump's electoral campaign, is growing.
POWELL AND MNUCHIN IN CONGRESS TODAY
Arm wrestling threatens Taurus closely. Futures signal a slowdown in the opening of US lists: the S&P500 index lost strength, turning negative, also due to the effect of Reuters indiscretions on a Nasdaq crackdown on the minimum requirements to be able to access the list, a measure which seems to want to hit above all Chinese micro-companies, which are not very transparent from an accounting point of view.
The dollar moved little against the euro, at 1,091, on the day of the hearing in the Senate of Jerome Powell and Steve Mnuchin.
The 10-year Treasury Note trades at 0,71% yield, eight basis points lower than Friday's close. The yield curve steepens: the two-ten year spread widens to 53 basis points, close to the highs of the last two months.
In Europe, the Franco-German agreement that allows the Recovery Fund to take off is holding the stage.
THE PROHIBITION OF SHORTS HAS BEEN ABOLISHED, BAGS TAKE FLIGHT
Thanks also to the petrol guaranteed by the rally in oil stocks, the markets celebrated the end of the lockdown in most of Europe from the morning, only to then explode upwards in the face of the hope of a vaccine capable of anticipating the times of victory about the epidemic. Meanwhile, as of today, Consob has suspended the ban on assuming new net short positions and increasing existing ones. And this also applies to the markets of Austria, Belgium, France, Greece and Spain. The ban was introduced last March 17, in the midst of the market crisis and a few days after the historic collapse of Piazza Affari (the Ftse Mib -16,9% on March 12), to deal with the speculation that was affecting the stocks of Stock Exchange.
MILAN +3,2% HOLDED BACK BY COUPONS
Piazza Affari, although held back by the detachment of the coupons (equal to 0,9%), joins the general euphoria with an increase of 3,26% to 17.401 points. The Italian stock exchange has reduced the loss since the beginning of the year to about -26%, Eurostoxx50 index -23%.
STEEL SHINES IN FRANKFURT, PSA SPEEDS UP IN PARIS
The other price lists of the Old Continent are even better: Frankfurt leads the race (+5,6%), where Thyssenkrup runs (+4,5%), in negotiations with various European companies for the consolidation of the iron and steel sector in crisis. ArcelorMittal +7,17%.
Followed by Madrid (+4,84%) and Paris (+5,16%), animated by increases of between 6 and 10% in the banking trio of Bnp Paribas, Crédit Agricole and Socgen, but also by Psa (+6,5% ) and Renault (+8,7%). The hotel giant Accor (+4,8%) has opened a new line of credit for 4,8 billion.
RYANAIR FLYING LONDON
In London (+4,84%) excels Ryanair (+14%), which has cut its annual passenger target by another 20% and declared that it has no idea of how much it will earn this year, but presents profits of one billion euros thanks to strong cost control. O'Leary announced a pay cut of up to 20%, unpaid leave and three thousand layoffs.
MACRON/MERKEL, 500 BILLION AGREEMENT ON THE RECOVERY FUND
The news of theagreement between France and Germany on the Recovery Fund, which, according to the leaders of the two countries, will have to be endowed with 500 billion euros to help the countries of the bloc quickly emerge from the crisis triggered by the coronavirus. Angela Merkel has said that the fund will have to offer non-repayable resources to the countries most affected by the coronavirus. For her part, Macron declared that, for the first time, the EU will collect debt jointly from the two countries. "Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary responses", claimed Merkel at the press conference, indicating the goal "that Europe emerges from the crisis with strengthened cohesion and solidarity", while Macron specified that the initiative was launched after extensive discussions with other countries, including Italy and the Netherlands. But on the plan, which will now be submitted to the Commission and will then have to be approved unanimously: other States, Austria in the first place, are already raising doubts.
BTP ITALIA AT THE START: 4 BILLION ALREADY COLLECTED
Departure launched for the Btp Italy 2025. At the end of the first day, orders totaled 4,02 billion euro.
At the end of the first day of the retail offer, demand for the previous 8-year issue, placed at the end of October, amounted to exactly half, ie two billion.
The new bond, indexed to Italian inflation, guarantees a minimum coupon of 1,40%, more than double the 0,65% of the previous bond which had a three-year higher maturity.
Via XX Settembre, which aims to expand the share of government bonds with private investors and has studied the new issue in particular to deal with the Covid emergency, has doubled the so-called loyalty bonus for those who hold the security to maturity to 9 per thousand .
By 10 on Thursday, when the offer reserved for institutional investors opens, the Treasury will communicate the definitive coupon rate, which in any case cannot be lower than 1,40%.
THE SPREAD FALLS TO 216, 1,68 YEARS AT XNUMX%
The good news coming from the Merkel/Macron bilateral agreement and the positive take-off of Btp Italia favored the positive evolution of the bond market session.
The yield gap between the Italian 2030-year April 2030 and the equivalent Bund in February 216 closed at session lows in the area of XNUMX basis points, about twenty cents below Friday's close.
The ten-year rate closes at 1,68%.
INTESA REOPENS THE BANK BONDS MARKET
Yesterday's news that Paris is preparing to issue a new XNUMX-year benchmark, while Belgium is working on a XNUMX-year dollar-denominated one.
With Intesa Sanpaolo's offer (1,25 billion over five years, a premium of 245 cents on the swap curve) the bank loan sector, which has been frozen for some time, has also restarted.
FIREWORKS AT PIAZZA AFFARI
The 40 blue chips of the FtseMib are all positive. Oil companies have been driving the rise since the beginning. Saipem gained 4,88%, Tenaris and Eni respectively 5,8% and 5,5%.
Atlantia (+1,7%) benefited from the progressive reopening of businesses and the free movement of citizens, albeit limited in the individual regions until 3 June. Autogrill (+4,8%) and the other motorway operator Astm (+2,1%) are also on the rise.
FCA LEADS THE CAR RALLY. SACE CREDIT IS LIKED
Positive for Exor (+1,6%). Fiat Chrysler takes off, rising by more than 8,2%, in line with the entire European car sector (+4,7% the industry stoxx). Lingotto confirmed on Saturday that its Italian subsidiary is in discussions with the government and Intesa Sanpaolo over the granting of a three-year 6,3 billion euro credit line backed by a state guarantee, provided by Sace. The Fidentiis broker says he is not surprised by the fact that the group wants to use the provisions of the Liquidity Decree and confirms the positive view on the stock: "We believe that the current price of FCA does not incorporate the potential value of the synergies that will emerge from the merger with PSA and the stock is currently trading at a 19% discount to the merger swap ratio.
Ferrari also shines in the automotive sector (+3,62%). Pirelli +1,89%. Adveev Roman increased the stake, held through Sova Capital to 6,24% from 3,41%, emerging from the Consob participations. Sova does not intend to increase the fee further. Brembo flies (+7,61%).
The other industrialists performed well: Prysmian +5,99%, Buzzi +5,83%, Leonardo +4,45% and Stm +3,01%.
THE BIG BANKS RUN, UNIPOL SUPERSTAR
Bank purchases: Intesa Sanpaolo +4,94%, Unicredit +5,91%. Mediobanca does better +6,92%%.
In the insurance sector, down Cattolica, which yields 5% after the announcement that the company will not propose any payment of dividends to the shareholders' meeting while in the first quarter the profit decreased due to write-downs. The Equita broker writes that "the results are substantially in line with expectations, with significant year-on-year growth in terms of operating profit, but strongly impacted, as expected, by write-downs on investments".
On the other hand, Unipol was strong (+6,7%) rewarded by better-than-expected results for the first quarter. Kepler Cheuvreux raised the target price from 5,05 to 5,2 euros, confirming the buy recommendation.
Asset management is on the rise, with Azimut up by 5,8%. Soul salt 7%.
CAMPARI AND FERRAGAMO TOAST THE REOPENING
Flat Tod's, Salvatore Ferragamo runs (+4,9%) in view of the reopening of the shops. The same reason behind the increase in Campari (+3,3%).
On the downside, physiological profits were taken on Diasorin (-2%) from the all-time highs reached last Friday.
TIM ACCOUNTS HOLDING DOWN: REVENUES - 6,6%.
Tim closed the first quarter with an annual decline of 6,6% in revenues due to the lockdown and the streamlining of the product portfolio. Organic Ebitda down by 7,5%, worse than consensus expectations. The company believes it can maintain 2020 EBITDA and capex targets as well as 2021-22, including 2022 cumulative equity free cash flow of $4,5-5 billion.
MASKS MAKE LILY FLOWER
Lastly, Giglio should be noted: +2,75% after the announcement of the launch of the partnership with Confcommercio for the creation of a new portal and the supply of KN95-FFP2 protective masks without valve.
