Uncertainty has prompted investors to hedge portfolios: the index that measures the volatility on options, the S&P 500 (Vix) index jumped to 16% from 12% two days ago, the lowest since 2007.
The only hypothesis that the Fed could slow down the stimulus measures to the economy, contained in the minutes of the January meeting of the US central bank, has triggered the sell-off on all markets.
But in Milan, three days after the opening of the polls for the political elections, the bear's paw dealt the blow to a market already in fibrillation: Business Square closed the session sharply lower with the FtseMib index down by 3,1%. The Milan Stock Exchange is the worst in a panorama of European indices in sharp decline: London lost 1,6%, Paris -2,2%, Frankfurt -1,8%.
Even government bonds are back to suffer: the yield of the 10-year BTP rose to 4,48%, the spread widened to 291, 15 basis points more than yesterday.
Italy was the country where the ECB was most active with the government bond purchase program (SMP) launched to support the countries most in difficulty in the Eurozone due to the jump in spreads. As stated in a note released by the ECB which, for the first time, details, with a view to transparency, the purchases made under the plan, now replaced by the OMT (Outright Monetary Transactions), the ECB had in its portfolio at 31 December 2012 Italian government bonds for a nominal value of 102,8 billion, entered in the book for 99 billion and with an average residual maturity of 4,5 years. Second is Spain with securities worth 44,3 billion (43,7 billion book value and duration of 4,1 years) and only third is Greece with a total purchased from Frankfurt of 33,9 billion (30,8 billion and 3,6. 218 years). The total purchased throughout the Eurozone, already known, is XNUMX billion.
Sul currency market the euro fell to 1,320 against the dollar, from 1,328 at the previous close.
Also to Wall Street the stock market is weak. the Dow Jones falls by 0,40%, Standard & Poor's -0,6%, Nasdaq -0,8%.
The sell-off hits almost every sector: 70 of the 500 stocks that make up the S&P are up.
INSIDE BUSINESS PLACE
Among Milanese blue chips, all down with the exception of Parmalat +2,2%, leads the ranking of Mediaset downs -5,7%.
Follow the banks: Unicredit, Intesa, Ubi, Banca Pop. Emilia suffer losses of more than 4%.
It is no exception Mount Paschi. The Court of Auditors has given the green light to the so-called Monti bonds.
The bottom Viking Global Investors opened a short position on Generali.
This is what emerges from the communications Consob, according to which the fund's overdraft on the insurance group stands at 0,84% of the company capital.
Telecom has estimated the redundancies of the 5.500/2013 plan at 14 units. This was reported by Vito Vitale, general secretary of Fistel-Cisl after the meeting between the unions and the company in which the reorganization and cost reduction plan was illustrated.
Strong decline also of Fiat -4,1% and A2A -4,9%.
In Finmeccanica we are moving towards the postponement of the approval of the 2012 budget. The board of directors would have been called to approve the 2012 accounts by 15 March, but a postponement to May-June is probable. With regard to Tod’s, Diego Della Valle has entrusted Alessandra Facchinetti with the role of creative director of the label.
