The fireworks explode in Piazza Affari in this hot and bloody summer. The last bang in chronological order concerns Monte Paschi. The bank has presented a plan to the ECB for the drastic reduction of non-performing loans which provides for a capital increase of 5 billion. The news caps off a day in which the stock drove traders crazy going from a 7% drop to a 3,8% rise. At the end of the session, the title was down by 1,2%.
The day had opened with another sensational news. A note from Mediaset informed that Vivendi does not intend to execute the contract already signed to buy Premium. The stock, after several suspensions due to excessive downwards and a minimum of 14%, closed with a decrease of 6,9%.
In the meantime, the markets are waiting for the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting. There is no press conference by Janet Yellen following the meeting, confirming that there will be no rate hike. But the final communiqué will allow us to understand the orientation of the board for September. Much more agitated on the eve of the Bank of Japan meeting.
Finally, to complete the picture of an endless day, the happy ending arrived: Apple's accounts turned out better than expected. iPhone sales are still declining, starting with China, but "the turning point has been passed," said CFO Luca Maestri.
TOKYO RUNS AWAITING STIMULUS, OIL DOWN STILL
The yen holds back pending tomorrow's long-awaited announcements by the Bank of Japan and the economic stimulus plan that Shinzo Abe is expected to announce on 2 August. The Japanese currency fell this morning to 105,84 against the dollar. At the same time, the stock market race resumed: +2,2%. Conversely, Shanghai (-1,6%) and Shenzhen (-3%) are losing blows. Much less agitated Wall Street: Dow Jones – 0,1%, S&P 500 +0,03% and Nasdaq 0,24%.
Oil is still declining: with the drop in the last 4 days, Brent oil has reached its lowest since last May at 44,4 dollars a barrel, the WTI is below 43 dollars.
APPLE RETURNS BEYOND 100 DOLLARS: THE WORST IS BEHIND
The attention of the markets focused on Apple's accounts, published after the closing. iPhone sales continued to fall, but at a slower-than-expected rate. Apple sold 40,4 million mobile phones in the quarter, 14,6% less on an annual basis, but it did better than the -16,3% of the previous quarter. The market response was enthusiastic: +6,96% after the stock market, above 103 dollars.
The negative note comes from Twitter, which fell by 10% after the accounts. Revenues for the quarter settled between 590 and 610 million against the 680 expected: it is the lowest growth rate since the quotation in 2013. Users of the bird were on average 313 million, stationary.
Banks, media and telecommunications livened up the session of European stock exchanges. Milan, after a difficult start to negotiations with a minimum of 16.383 points, closed almost unchanged at +0,03% at 16.697 points.
The end-of-month Treasury auctions got underway with the placement of 3,5 billion between Ctz and Btpei. The Ctz in March 2018 recorded a new historic minimum yield of -0,150%. Today will instead be the turn of the six-month Bot, offered for 6,25 billion out of 6,5 billion. Tomorrow 7 and 8,5 billion of medium-long term securities will be offered.
The other price lists performed better than Piazza Affari: Paris +0,15%, London +0,21% and Frankfurt +0,49%.
STRESS TEST, NOW SHAKES COMMERZBANK
The tension on the banks is growing in view of the D-Day: tomorrow at 22 pm the ballots on the EBA stress tests carried out on 53 banks of the Old Continent will be released. And it's not just Mps that is shaking.
In Frankfurt, Commerzbank, the second largest German bank, lost 4,3% after announcing a 32% drop in second-quarter profit, and above all an unexpected drop in the capital solidity parameter Cet1, which fell on 30 June last year 11,5% from 12% on the previous March 31st.
Deutsche Bank lost 2,1%, in Paris Société Générale fell by 0,7%, in Madrid BBVA -0,8%.
THE MPS INCREASE IS READY: IT WILL BE WITHOUT STATE CONTRIBUTION
In the meantime, the plan for securing Monte Paschi is ready, which will perhaps already be presented today to the Supervisory Board of the ECB. A capital increase of 5 billion is planned, guaranteed by a consortium of banks led by Mediobanca and JP Morgan, supported by Citigroup and Ubs. The operation will accompany the maxi sale of bad loans for ten billion euros under the direction of Atlante 2.
The operation should take place at a price of around 30% of the face value (compared to a book value of 36,7%) for a loss of approximately 2 billion euro. Once freed from non-performing loans, the way could open up for Mps for a merger whereby, despite almost daily denials, the name of Ubi Banca continues to be mentioned (-0,6%).
Unicredit decreased yesterday (-2,2%) after the Board of Directors approved the new organization chart which provides, under the CEO Jean Pierre Mustier, for a single general manager with powers for all activities, in the person of Gianni Papa.
LOW BLOW OF VIVENDI TO MEDIASET (-7%)
Mediaset fell sharply afterwards Vivendi's about-face on the purchase of Premium. The Fininvest subsidiary closed down 7% at 3,0140 euros, the worst blue chip of the day when it hit a low of 2,7460 euros.
The French company has sent a letter in which it proposes, as an alternative, to purchase only 20% of Premium's capital and intends to hold around 15% of Mediaset's capital in three years through a convertible bond loan. Mediaset, awaiting the decisions of the board of directors already convened for next Thursday on the accounts for the second quarter, announced in a press release that it is "firmly determined to enforce all its rights in every venue".
THE FIBER AXIS IS BORN BETWEEN TELECOM AND FASTWEB
In the meantime, it has taken shape the fiber alliance between Telecom Italia and Fastweb. It is the answer to the forthcoming marriage between Enel and Metroweb which will be celebrated this week. The former Italian incumbent and the Swisscom subsidiary have signed a partnership to bring optical fiber to the homes of 3 million families by 2020, with an investment of 1,2 billion euros. "Tim and Fastweb - reads the Telecom note - will study the possibility of extending the partnership to other sectors of collaboration for the joint development of passive infrastructures and technologies for the rapid diffusion of ultra-broadband".
Meanwhile, Telecom has revised its estimates for 2016: domestic Ebitda will rise at a moderate "low single digit" rate, in any case up from the previous forecast of "at least stable". The company closed the first half with a net profit of 1,02 billion euros compared to 33 million in the same period of 2015.
CNH FLIES, FCA ACCOUNTS TODAY. ENAV SUPERSTAR AT THE DEBUT
Also noteworthy is the record debut of Enav (+10,61%). Waiting for the results of Fiat Chrysler expected for today, the Agnelli Cnh Industrial team shines (+7,7%) afterwards results for the quarter much better than expected.
Exor also rose (+1,34%): Mediobanca Securities confirmed the outperform recommendation and the target price of 50,8 euro. Kepler Cheuvreux, on the other hand, increased the target price to 31,7 euros from 30,9 euros, confirming the hold rating.
Purchases on Stm (+1,29%): Equita Sim underlined that Texas Instruments reported second quarter results and third quarter guidance above expectations.
The market rejected Luxottica's accounts instead (-4,03%). Balzo di Safilo (+5,06%) pending the publication of the results for the first half of 2016.
The weakness of crude oil has not weighed on the shares of the sector. Eni has zeroed the losses and closes in parity. Saipem marked an increase of 3,2%, Tenaris +1%.
