Today it's up to the Tokyo Stock Exchange to take a break: the Nikkei will in fact remain closed for the National Foundation Day while Hong Kong reopens after the Chinese holidays. However, the index opened sharply lower, discounting all at once the turbulence that has shaken world stock markets in recent sessions.
Last night on Wall Street, oil closed down again: the WTI lost 1,8% to 27,45 dollars a barrel, despite yesterday's weekly inventory data which surprisingly dropped by 754 barrels to 501,958 million . Today the decline continues and crude oil is still down 1,57% to 27,02 dollars a barrel.
Wall Street closed down slightly after that Yellen's testimony, head of the Fed, to Congress. The governor of the central bank fears new turbulences that risk derailing the economic recovery and has reassured an accommodating policy, staving off a rate hike, although she has not explicitly ruled out hikes in 2016. The euro-dollar exchange rate has risen above 1,12. XNUMX
Now markets are eyeing US weekly jobless claims data. In Europe, the Eurogroup meets at 15 pm.
In Italy, the publication of annual results continues, including UnipolSAi, Bper, Banca Carige. Also keep an eye on the data from the Zurich insurance company, where the now ex-CEO of Generali flew.
BANKS IN THE RALLY
SPREAD BELOW 140 POINTS
In Europe yesterday the hedges on the banking sector were favored by the rumors circulating on an emergency plan for the repurchase of senior bonds by Deutsche Bank. The lists closed with a plus sign: London +0,71%, Paris +1,59% and Frankfurt +1,55%.
In Italy, the Ftse Mib yesterday achieved the most vigorous rebound (+5,03%) in Europe with banks that also benefited from the EU's go-ahead for bad banks and the overall positive results released in recent days by the main institutes. Intesa Sanpaolo +14,45%, Unicredit +11,91%, Banco Popolare +11,09%, Unipol +10,26% and Bpm +9,48%. Piazza Meda and Banco Popolare await the approval of the Supervisory Authority to close on the merger. There is expectation for the pronouncement of the TAR on the appeals against the reform of cooperative banks.
In the meantime, during the night the Government approved the decree law on the banking system which provides for the guarantee for the securitization of non-performing loans and the reform of cooperative credit. the Btp bund spread also performed well, having cooled down below 140 basis points.
Yesterday on the macroeconomic front in Italy industrial production did well in 2015 which returned to growth after four years, despite the slowdown in December. Also in Italy, the Treasury placed one-year Treasuries for 6,5 billion with a negative yield of 0,032%, an increase of 4 basis points compared to the placement in January. Good demand which amounted to 10,45 billion with a coverage ratio of 1,61 compared to 1,65 at the January auction. Today the Treasury is offering 3, 7 and 15-year BTPs up to €5,5 billion at auction.
