Le explosions that hit Brussels this morning, causing deaths and injuries, have also had their repercussions felt on the financial markets. All European Stock Exchanges start the session in red: Milan -1,6%, Frankfurt -0,8%, Paris -0,7%, London -0,5%.
Banks are especially bad on the Ftse Mib. After yesterday's race Banco Popolare marks the worst performance and records a drop of 6,48% pending news on the merger with Bpm (-1,38%) on the day in which the board of directors of the Milanese institute meets.
Telecom Italia -0,4% on the day in which the Board of Directors meets to acknowledge the resignation of the CEO, Marco Patuano, and probably indicate that the president, Giuseppe Recchi, will take up the posts ad interim until a new number one is appointed of the company.
Saipem, against the trend, gained 0,7% despite the weakness of oil prices: the May future on the WTI lost 0,26% reaching 41,43 dollars a barrel.
On the currency front, the euro changed hands at 1,1243 dollars stable on the previous day's values (1,1246 yesterday). It is also worth 125,6 yen (125,56), while the dollar/yen ratio is 111,72 (111,64).
Positive indications are coming from Germany: the Ifo index, which measures the confidence of German businesses, rose more than expected in March, settling at 106,7 points, from 105,7 in February and against expectations for 105,9. The current conditions index rose to 113,8 (from 112,9) with a consensus of 112,6 and the index on expectations rose to 100 from 98,8, above the consensus of 99,5.
BANKS, BPM AND BANCO POPOLARE BODIES ONLY TOMORROW
Piazza Affari is betting that the marriage between the Popolari will take place: the games for the merger between the two institutes have also reopened to pressure from the government. Thus the chances have risen that today the Boards will announce a memorandum of understanding or at least the continuation of the negotiations on the basis of the conditions requested by the ECB.
In this regard, the CEO of Banco, Pier Francesco Saviotti, said on Saturday during the meeting: "We start from the assumption that the capital we have is robust but since the ECB insists on the possibility of further improvements, we have considered that there may be initiatives under the aspect of strengthening the assets. Which doesn't necessarily mean a capital increase, but I'm not able to say whether to rule it out 100%". The councils of the two Popolari will be held tomorrow and not today as planned.
CATTANEO TO TELECOM. TODAY THE MEDIASET ACCOUNTS
At the center of attention is also the game of convergence between telecommunications and TV. Yesterday morning Telecom Italia confirmed the resignation of the managing director Marco Patuano who, barring surprises, should be replaced by Flavio Cattaneo, Italo's current CEO. The resigned CEO was summoned to Consob tomorrow.
Yesterday the Mediaset share lost almost 1% and today it leaves another 1,9% in the field after Silvio Berlusconi, in a speech on the radio, reduced the scope of the possible agreements of the Biscione with Vivendi, reference shareholder of Telecom . According to Repubblica, on the contrary, an all-round agreement is possible, with a share swap with the Bolloré group. Meanwhile, the market awaits the accounts of the TV company, today being examined by the board of directors: it will be the first opportunity to get a final balance on Premium's performance.
However, times are running out. "If Vivendi wants to offer itself as an alternative to Netflix - writes The Economist - it must move quickly, given the rapid expansion of the US group".
THE NEW IPHONE DOESN'T HEAT UP THE US STOCK
Flat yesterday Apple (-0,01% to 105,91 dollars) after the parade of novelties. Apple has presented an iPhone that is smaller in size and at a lower price than the latest models, but with similar performance. The price of the iWatch drops by 100 dollars (to 299). But analysts doubt the moves will be able to counter the trend decline in sales in 2016.
