Wall Street is coming and the climate is also improving on European stock exchanges. The continental stock markets closed down, but far from the lows of the session, after the American stock market, which started off cautiously, seems to have started to fly again. The Nasdaq, which yesterday set the 35th 2020 record, is on new highs, while Apple gives a boost to technology and rises by 3,2%, beating all records a few days from the goal, reached for the first time in history, of 2.000 billions of capitalization.
Piazza Affari loses 0,36%, stopping at 19.695 basis points, penalized above all by oil companies. The performance is similar to Frankfurt -0,65%; Paris -0,3%; Madrid -0,35%; London -0,27%. Worrying about the Old Continent is the growth of infections from the new Coronavirus and the risk that a real economic recovery will still be waiting. After the warning from the ECB, today it is the PMI indicators, which take the pulse of purchasing managers and companies that send a stop signal. The PMI index of the EU manufacturing sector fell from 51,8 to 51,7 points, against an estimate rising to 52,9. The composite index of services, expected to be stable, decreased from 54,9 to 51,6 points, while that relating to purchasing managers in services fell from 54,7 to 50,1 points, against the 54,5 estimated.
The situation is different in the United States. Manufacturing activity in August is better than expected: the preliminary figure, compiled by ihs markit, rises to 53,6 points from 50,9 points at the end of July and from 51,3 in the flash reading; analysts' expectations were for a rise to 51,5. The flash services PMI also grew to 54,8 points in August, better than estimates. Existing home sales in the United States in July also increased (+24,7%) for the second consecutive month, going well beyond expectations, after the sharp decline (-9,7%) in May.
The different picture that emerges from these data is felt on the euro-dollar exchange rate, which falls by more than half a percentage point to 1,177. Fears that the recovery is slow, while public debts are rising (in Great Britain the ceiling of 2 trillion pounds has been breached) weigh on government bonds. The spread between Italian and German ten-year bonds rises to 145 basis points (+2,45%) and the BTP rate rises to 0,94%, while that of the Bund falls to -0,51%.
A movement that holds back the banks, even if Banco Bpm remains afloat +0,07%, with the hypothesis that a banking risk will start again, after the success of the Intesa offer (-0,25%) on Ubi (-0,27 .24%). Meanwhile, the bank headed by Paolo Messina confirms the dates and methods of the residual takeover bid on the Bergamo bank which will begin next Monday 1,08 August. Today's biggest losses in the sector are Bper -XNUMX%.
Black shirt of the list is Saipem, -3,5%, following the price cut by Bernstein to 2 euros from 4,8 euros, with a 'market-perform' rating from 'outperform'. The company's order book is deemed too risky. Eni falls in the sector, -0,78%. On the other hand, oil falls again: Brent at 43,96 dollars a barrel (-2,1%).
Still on the main price list of Piazza Affari, sales penalize Pirelli -1,95%, Fiat -1,28%, Leonardo -1,56%. Telecom dropped 1,41%, after the ping pong of interviews on the single network project. While the president of the telephone company, Luigi Gubitosi, would like to create a single network under the control of Telecom, the deputy minister for economic development, Stefano Buffagni, confirms the executive's "no" to an operation of this type. Buffagni rather favors the spin-off of the network, but the main shareholder of Telecom Vivendi does not like the idea. On the green side of the price list, Cnh +1,62% rises. Nexi +0,61%, Terna +0,58%, Buzzi +0,34% also climbed.
