The European stock exchanges suffer in the middle of the day: the main lists, including Business Square, lose more than 2%, with the exception of London which however records -1,4%. The sharp drop in Asian stock exchanges, starting with -2,6% in Tokyo, combined with further correction in oil is the main cause of this Tuesday's flop.
In Milan, the basket of blue chips mainly reflects the weakness of the oil industry and banks, but sales also affect the auto sector. At the bottom of the Ftse Mib Banco Popolare (-6,7% below 5 euros per share), losses of over 5% also for Tenaris, FCA and Saipem. Eni over -2%, as well as Finmeccanica and Generali. Telecom Italia was also bad, losing 1% to 0,8 euros at the end of the morning. Unicredit falling below 3 euros per share, Intesa Sanpaolo lost 2,4% at midday to 2,2 euros. Mediolanum (-4,5%) is also in difficulty, announcing today that it had collected over half a billion in March: "We want a 2016 coupon that is up on that of 2015," said Ennio Doris. At the end of the morning, only Atlantia and Snam were saved, with modest gains.
Petroleum down: Wti down below 37 dollars a barrel, Brent at 37.48. Oil producers suffer despite the statements by Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, who spoke on the Val d'Agri case, highlighting Eni's great commitment to the environment and water safety: "We have carried out checks and analyzes on the water, we have made large investments for the treatment of this water". Descalzi also admitted that the prolonged closure of the plant will have negative but manageable effects.
The dollar rises against the single currency: 1,1355 dollars are needed for one euro at the start (1,1394 last night). The yen clearly strengthened: the euro/yen moved to 125,34 from 126,79. The dollar / yen at 110,44 from 111,28. Btp-Bund Spread rising towards 120 basis points: at the end of the morning it was reported above 117 points.
On the macroeconomic front, Istat spoke of a "moderate growth in the first quarter, but uncertainties remain. The Italian economy – the institute explained in a note – continues to present some elements of uncertainty in terms of the push for growth in the supply of goods and services; on the demand side, growth in consumption remained stable, accompanied by a slight recovery in investments. Against this backdrop, the leading composite indicator of the Italian economy remains positive”.
