America hurts the stock exchanges, waiting for… America. When fears about the decisions of the Federal Reserve (expected in the Italian evening) on the probable reduction of tapering had not yet subsided, another blow hit the European markets in the afternoon: the US economy slowed down so much in 2014 to find itself practically stagnating from the 2,6% recorded in the last quarter of 2013. The US GDP in the first quarter was expected to be +1,1% and instead recorded +0,1%, mainly due to exports which they fell by 7,6%: this is the worst figure since the recession ended.
And so Piazza Affari, which on profit-taking after yesterday's exploits was already sailing in negative territory in the morning, lost more than 1% in the mid-afternoon only to then close with the Ftse Mib at -0,88% at 21.783,38 points. Bank stocks are paying off above all, yesterday's great protagonists: in particular Mps -3,92% and Bper -2,87%, but also Intesa Sanpaolo -1,05%, Unicredit -1,83% and Banco Popolare -1,13% after the capital increase of 1,5 billion. Saipem also bad -1,93% despite the 1,8 billion dollar order in Azerbaijan, and Generali (-0,88% to 16,85 euros) on the day of the meeting which saw CEO Mario Greco promise profits and dividends already in 2014.
In contrast, in the Ftse Mib basket, only Telecom Italia, which closes with almost +3% to touch the threshold of the euro per share at 0,9235 euro. Today CEO Marco Patuano, speaking in Brussels on the sidelines of a workshop on the Digital Agenda in view of the Italian presidency of the EU, opened to "possible alliances with the over the top". Already last December, Telecom Italia had concluded an agreement with the e-commerce giant, Amazon, for the use of its application on Tim mobile phones, and today the telephone company is also opening up to Facebook. “The competition that comes from over the top is a very clear threat for those who have to invest billions of euros like Telecom Italia. But some alliances are also possible with the multinationals of the web”, Patuano reiterated.
In addition to US GDP, today is a day of macroeconomic data. The inflation rates of Italy and the eurozone stand out, both rising but below expectations, while Istat confirmed that unemployment remained at the record levels of February, i.e. 12,7%, in March as well. All while employment is growing in Germany and while Spain is recording the best GDP growth for six years now. On the Btp front, the spread closed stable on the threshold of 160 basis points, after the differential between the Italian and German ten-year yields had even reached 156 points in the middle of the day.
