According to George Soros “the EU has a margin of three months to correct one's mistakes and reverse the current inertia”. The IMF Director Christine Lagarde, he adds: "The European institutions have less than three months to save the single currency" .
Italy remains in the crosshairs of speculation. In a day of moderate increases for all European stock exchanges, the FtseMib index of Piazza Affari closed down by 0,7%, recovering after falling to -2,5% in the afternoon. The London Stock Exchange rose by 0,7%, Paris +0,1%, Frankfurt +0,3%.
Pressure remained on government bonds all day: the yield of the ten-year BTP rose from 6,01% last night to 6,14%, the spread with the Bund is at 471 basis points. The ten-year Spanish Bono is also in the sights, which during the day marked the maximum yield since the existence of the euro at 6,80%, and then fell again in the final to 6,65%. Spread at 522 points.
The euro it has not moved much and in the evening it is unchanged against the dollar at 1,247.
Around 18,30 the Dow Jones salt by 0,8%, lo Standard & Poor's 500 by 0,6% and the Nasdaq 0,7%.
After Spain's decision to ask the EU for 100 billion in aid to save the banks, speculation aimed at the disintegration of the euro has further reinvigorated and the Italian financial market, banks, insurance companies and government bonds are in the crosshairs.
Despite today's statements by Fitch and S&P officials on the solidity of Italian banks, whose situation is not comparable to banks, the sales hit credit securities above all on the Stock Exchange: Intesa fell by 3,7%, Unicredit -3,9%, Banco Popolare -1,8%, Ubi -2,8%, MontePaschi -5,8%. Popolare dell'Emilia fell by 3,4%. Mediolanum lost 4,9%.
Tensions abounded: the Prime Minister, Mario Monti, sharply criticized the words with which the Austrian finance minister hinted today at the possibility of Italy resorting to a European bailout plan. "As I consider it completely inappropriate for a finance minister of one EU member state to comment on the situation of another member state in this way, I refrain from commenting on the words of the aforementioned minister myself," Monti said in reference to the words of Maria Fekter.
In an interview with Austrian television, the minister had said that "it may be that Italy can also ask for help given the high rates it already pays to refinance on the market”. Subsequently, Fekter tried to straighten things out by saying that “we have no indications that Italy will make a request. I don't see this."
Fitch also threw buckets of water to put out the fire which risks attacking the Italian financial sector. The situation of Italian banks is very different from that of Spanish banks, whose bailout has been announced, with a loan of up to 100 billion euros, by the European Union. This was stated by the director of Fitch's sovereign ratings department Ed Parker. “Italian banks have not had a credit boom and a real estate bubble… so we don't see these kinds of problems in Italy,” Parker explained, according to whom the Spanish bank bailout has no direct impact on other countries, including Italy.
Returning to Piazza Affari, Generali he recovered by closing in a draw.
In the industrial sector Fiat Industrial it fell 1,5% on reports that the group was studying an offer to buy the American truck maker Navistar. Fiat it lost 1,2%.
In decline Finmeccanica -0,8%, StM lost 0,2% despite positive chip market news from competitor Texas Instruments.
Among the utilities it suffered A2A -1,6%. Down throughout the morning, Enel Green Power closed positive (+0,3%), Enel unchanged.
On the rise Lottomatica +1,2% and Diasorin + 2%.
Among the mid caps, Hera rose up 2,4%, supported by Citigroup's new buy recommendation. Strong fall of Piaggio -6,8%, after Equita removed the stock from its mid-cap portfolio. Landi Renzo fell by 10%.
There is great anticipation for the fate of the Ligresti galaxy while in the evening the shareholders' meeting of the holding Premafin -1,7% is still underway. FondiariaSai dropped by 4,8%, Milano Assicurazioni -4,8%, Unipol -5%.
Green light for the shareholders of Seat Yellow Pages the merger by incorporation of Lighthouse. The operation approved today is functional to the financial restructuring which should be concluded between September and October and which will lead Lighthouse to acquire approximately 88% of the company. 5,9% of the remaining capital will be divided between the historic funds that hold Seat and 6,1% of the free float.
