Milan and Madrid close against the tide in positive territory driven by government bond auctions: Piazza Affari +0,64% with final sprint and Madrid +0,38%. Instead, the other main European markets were weak: Frankfurt -0,43%, Paris -0,10% and London -0,27%. Athens -1,54%.
The Treasury has sold all 3,5 billion euros of the new 3-year BTP with rates at their lowest since October 2010 and the average yield dropped to 2,50% from 2,64% at the November 14 auction. Demand was more tepid with a bid to cover ratio of 1,36 against 1,50 in November. While the pressure for Monti's candidacy increases, the Btp-bund spread closes at around 329 basis points and the euro remains at 1,3084.
Europe today closes two important steps: the green light from Ecofin to the first phase of the banking union which provides for single supervision from 1 March 2014 on banks in the euro area with assets of at least 30 billion euros or which represent 20% of the country's GDP by the ECB; the green light from the Eurogroup for the 34,3 billion which, according to sources, will be used for the recapitalization of the banks, for the 2013 budget and for the repurchase of the debt. In Spain, the bad bank set up by the government was officially born to channel the toxic assets of Spanish banks to the center of the crisis.
But today, in the ECB bulletin, Eurotower economists confirmed, after last week's announcement, the cut in euro area growth estimates for 2012 (between -0,6% and -0,4% ) and 2013 (between -0,9% and +0,3%), formulating a growth forecast of between 0,2 and 2,2% for the following year. Furthermore, the ECB notes that the conditions of the labor market in the Eurozone "have worsened further in recent quarters" and forecasts "suggest a further increase in unemployment in the short term". Unemployment in the euro area reached 11,7% in October.
Data that adds to the concerns expressed yesterday by Bernanke on fears for the difficult fiscal cliff agreement. Fears which, even on Wall Street, overshadowed the Fed's move on the stock markets, which for the first time linked the policy of exceptionally low rates to the 6,5% unemployment threshold and increased the stimulus for growth, announcing that from January will buy Treasuries for 45 billion a month.
Wall Street opened a little move and then took the downward path: the Dow Jones at the end of Europe lost 0,23% and the Nasdaq 0,37%.
On the front of Use macro data corporate inventories rose 0,4% in October in line with expectations, while jobless claims fell to 343, more than expected. Retail sales, on the other hand, increased by 0,3% below expectations.
Popular banks rise in Piazza Affari: Bpm +4,84% on expectations of a review of governance, Bper +4,56% and Ubi Banca +4,55% which drag the Ftse Mib upwards. Intesa +1,11% Unicredit +0,17% and Mps +0,30% were also positive. Today the president Alessandro Profumo explained that the situation is complex and makes it essential to agree on the outsourcing provided for in the industrial plan, stating that "today there are the conditions to do it at least with a part of the union". “Otherwise we will go alone, which seems inappropriate to us,” he added. Fiat +2,72% and A2A +2,58% also rose. At the bottom of the index Saipem -1,10%, Luxottica -0,74%, Ferragamo -0,71%. Stm -0,19% after Moody's cut its rating to Baa2 from Baa1 with out look to stable from negative after following the group's strategic plan update
A government amendment to the Stability Law presented in the Senate Budget Committee.
Modifies the Tobin tax by establishing that the levy on stock transactions is 0,12% from March 2013 and decreases to 0,1% from 2014
