MILAN IS LOOKING FOR CONFIRMATIONS. UNICREDIT REVIEWS THE COUPON
ASIA AT THE GALLOP, S&P NEAR AWAY FROM RECORD
Technical rebound? Turn signal when towing the (few) engines, from Eni to Generali, that have not gone out of revs? The feeling that, in the end, a solution for Palazzo Chigi will be found? Already today we will understand what consistency it has the "remontada" of the Italian Stock Exchange. In any case, the Milan Stock Exchange thanks to a leap of 2,4%, yesterday was by far the best in Europe. The FtseMib index rose by 2,4%.
Since the beginning of the year, however, the FtseMib index has remained in the red by 0,8%, while all the other European indices positive performances: London +10,7%, Paris +6,3%, Frankfurt +5,8%, Madrid +6%.
A relative improvement of the BTP was recorded on the government bond market: the yield remained stable at 4,63% with the spread unchanged at 316. The Spanish Bono worsened, with the yield rising to 4,83%: the differential with Italy, which was 10 basis points yesterday, it doubled.
Focused attention today on the European summit preceded by the farewell letter of Prime Minister Mario Monti who anticipated that Italy will ask the Council of Heads of State to "make use of the margins of flexibility in the regulation of public finances". In other words, Monti will reiterate, urgent measures are needed to make "fiscal consolidation" compatible with still too low growth and sharply rising unemployment throughout Southern Europe.
The premier received the solidarity of German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, who said he was confident about the creation of a stable government. The German minister then reiterated that "Italy has made great strides forward with Monti".
SUPERSTAR LION
In Milan the star of the day is Generali, a 9,3% increase after closing 2012 with an operating profit higher than expected. The Lion of Trieste has also dragged up its main shareholder, Mediobanca +5,9%. In particular, analysts were pleased by the improvement in the combined ratio (Non-Life business efficiency index) which fell to 95,7% compared to expectations of 96,7% (92,8% in the fourth quarter of 2012). Solvency I, the solvency index, stands at 159%.
Generali's leap was also highly contagious for other insurance companies, Cattolica Assicurazioni +11,8% and Unipol +9%. The representative of Premafin, controlled by Unipol, announced during the Fondiaria-Sai shareholders' meeting in Bologna its favorable opinion on the liability actions brought by the ad acta commissioner Matthew Caratozzolo against the Ligresti family and the Fonsai former leaders.
A strong contribution to the Milanese price list also came from Eni +3,1%, which announced an acceleration in the production of hydrocarbons with the new industrial plan and also announced the sale for 4,2 billion of a 20% stake in a field in Mozambique. 50% of the field remains with Eni.
The appointment of the day is with Unicredit accounts +1%. The bank in Piazza Cordusio should announce its exit from Kazakhstan. The coupon should return: 7 cents, according to analysts' forecasts.
Among the banks in evidence BancaPop.Emilia +7%- and Intesa +1,7%. On the contrary, Ubi -1,4% and Pop.Milano -2,7% are down.
“Continue efforts to increase self-financing capacity”. This is the indication coming from the Supervision of the Bank of Italy to the institutes for the budget season. Hence particular attention to manager bonuses, which cannot be paid by companies in the red, or circumvented with salary increases. Of particular importance is the invitation to write down loans and assets in the portfolio given the persistence of the crisis.
Sharp rise of Mediolanum + 5,2%.
In the utility sector sharp rise in A2A +6,2%, after the data from the 2012 financial statements which show a return to profit. Enel recovered 1,4%, EnelGreenPower +5,5%.
THE FED DOES NOT PROMOTE JPMORGAN AND GOLDMAN SACHS
Roaring week end for Tokyo. The index Nikkei it rose by 1,33% on the eve of Kuroda's inauguration at the central bank, after the yes of the Upper House to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's candidate. There is already talk of an extraordinary central bank meeting before the one scheduled for April 3-4. At the last meeting, the members of the directorate had sided against new injections of liquidity as advocated by Abenomics.
Also recovering Hong Kong + 0,33%.
Strong anticipation for the Samsung's new Galaxy S4, launched yesterday in New York: Korean analysts expect sales of 44 million units in the next six months.
Still air of firsts on Wall Street. The S&P500 index +0,6% rises to 1,563.23, just a whisker from the historical record of October 2007 of 1.565.
The Dow Jones is up 0,6% and the Nasdaq is up 0,4%.
Yesterday further confirmation arrived that theamerican economy is accelerating: last week the number of new jobless claims fell to 332.000: economists had expected 350.000.
The Federal Reserve has approved capital requirements for 14 of 18 system banks. But plans presented by two leading companies have been returned to the sender for corrections: JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs will have to submit new capital management plans to central bank officials . The news, announced after the stock market was closed, caused the shares of the two institutes to drop by 2%.
Research in Motion loses 1,5% after yesterday's 8% jump. The company said it received a massive order for 1 million Blackberry 10 phones from a customer, the largest order it has ever received.
