Asia also closed the trading session in deep red. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index travels down by 1%, Hong Kong marks -1,08%. Among the most worrying signals stand out in Japan the rebound of the yen and the oil price. TO Hong Kong the loss of the index dedicated to Chinese stocks weighs: -1,8%, due to the fall in bank stocks after the lunge of President Wen Jiabao against the "credit monopoly" to the detriment of SMEs. This completes the "perfect storm" that hit the markets on Black Wednesday.
The ingredients for the fall were all there: negative signals from central banks, the Fed and the ECB; the disappointing outcome of the Spanish bond auction; the stagnation, in practice, of orders from German industry, only +0,3%, much less than the expected +1,5%. It could have been a storm. And it was a storm. There Milan Stock Exchange it closed with a loss of 2,4%, in line with the other European markets: London - 2,3%, Paris -2,7%, Frankfurt -2,8%.
But, as usual, in the Caporetto of finance the realest concerns concern the trench of government bonds. It was a day of suffering, the likes of which have not been seen for months: the yield of the 10-year BTP it recovered to 5,34% with the spread with the Bund widening to 358 points (+22 basis points).
It's worse for Spain: the Treasury of Madrid has placed on the market only 2,73 billion euros of securities of various maturities with yields rising compared to previous auctions. The target of this morning's placement was 3,5 billion euro. The spread between Bonos and Bund jumps to 390, the yield over 5,55%. To complete the picture, there is also the sharp fall of the euro against the dollar to 1,313 from 1,323.
Il Wednesday of passion for price lists it began on the wave of disappointment with the minutes of the Fomc meeting of 13 March: the board of the Federal Reserve seems to have shelved the hypothesis of a new injection of liquidity for the markets. In the afternoon Mario Draghi, at the end of the ECB directorate meeting, stated that the economic scenario is stabilizing but presents "downside risks". Both in the USA and in Europe, rates remain unchanged, at historic lows, but the markets, given the fragility of the US recovery (recognized by the Fed) and the slowdown in the European economy, expected something more. In short, at this moment, "no news, bad news".
Black day also for the American Stock Exchange: the S&P index falls by 1,02%, Dow Jones -0,95%, Nasdaq -1,46%. In addition to the Spanish syndrome, following the difficulties of the Madrid auction, the session was conditioned by the downward correction of estimates for the second quarter of SanDisk, which affected the entire technology sector. No less significant is the disappointing performance of the Ism index of purchasing managers of service sector companies, which fell more than expected to 56 in March. But the mood of investors is conditioned by the report of the last meeting of the FOMC. On March 13, eight out of ten members of the committee said they were against the adoption of new extraordinary monetary policy stimuli to boost economic growth.
White smoke (with storm) for the new RCS board. As expected, the chairman will be Angelo Provasoli and the managing director will be changed. Still uncertain about the name of the new CEO. Skip Antonello Perricone until the end of the financial year, but the "new name" will not appear before a new conclave on May 2nd. But, above all, Diego Della Valle leaves the pact, accusing the "clumsy and specious" behavior of some members of the command axis of via Solferino. “Corsera – he added – must remain independent. If Elkann and Pagliaro have different ideas, they'd better put their hearts at rest and realize that times have changed".
Finally, as wished by Mediobanca and Fiat, the new board is expected to be much smaller than the current 21 directors with 12 members, including the minority one. The names indicated should be Luca Garavoglia (Fiat), Fulvio Conti (Mediobanca), Carlo Pesenti and Paolo Merloni (both already on the Board), while as independents, in addition to Marchetti, there will be Andrea Bonomi, Umberto Ambrosoli, Roland Berger, Giuseppe Vita . To these are added the new president Provasoli, the CEO and the representative of minorities, a role held so far by Giuseppe Rotelli, 11% strong.
The takeover price is not right. Consob has established that the offer of 0,84 euros for each Edison share by Edf must be adjusted upwards, within the range that leads to the valuation of 0,95 euros suggested by the expert report of Professor Maurizio Dallocchio. Edf has taken note of this and now, as stated in a press release, "will evaluate the activities that must be carried out without further delays". In reality, the agreement signed at the end of December 2011 in Paris was conditional on the tender offer at 0,84 euro. Now, therefore, Edf has his hands free. And he can choose whether to: a) pay the new price (a further outlay of 56 million); b) re-discuss the agreement by taking over some plants already sold to Edipower (with great relief for the accounts of A2A and Iren); c) proceed with the request for a capital increase for Edison, made necessary by the budget, to which the Italian partners will not be able to participate due to lack of means.
Difficult to choose the sector of the price list most targeted by sales. The reductions were widespread across all sectors: Fiat fell by 4,5%, Fiat Industrial -3,46%. Fiat does not intend to participate in a possible price war in Europe and confirms that German manufacturers are against an intervention by the European Union on the issue of excess production capacity. This was stated by Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat and president of Acea (European Association of Manufacturers), in the press conference that followed the meeting of Fiat shareholders. "The matter is on the table, let's try to understand what the position of the Germans is," said Marchionne. “The three German car manufacturers appear united, opposed to an intervention by the EU. I don't want ours to become the club med position…” Marchionne added that Fiat “does not intend to participate in a possible price war in Europe, which would damage the company”.
Among other industrialists Finmeccanica it was the worst blue chip of the day with a loss of 6,9%. But the losses are heavy for everyone: Prysmian -4,5%, StM -5,2% and Pirelli -4,4%. Among the financial Mediolanum -6% was penalized in particular. Discounts also among the banks, which once weren't the worst sector: Unicredit -2,9%, Intesa -1,7%, Banco Popolare -4,8%, MontePaschi -2,8%, Banca Popolare di Milano -4%. Among the blue chips, only two stocks rose: Campari +0,3% supported by the promotion of Cheuvreux and Diasorin +0,2%. After a positive morning, Telecom Italia also closed down -1,3%. The president Franco Bernabè has declared his willingness to consider the hypothesis of spin-off of the network. In the meantime, an internal company study is examining the possibility that Cassa Depositi e Prestiti or, alternatively, Metroweb may be involved in the operation.
Maire Tecnimont it gained 3,7% after the acquisition of an order in Slovakia (204 million). Italcementi fell by 8,7%: S&P has placed the company under observation for a possible downgrade. It was a black day for the entire construction sector in Europe (Stoxx -3,1%). In Paris i two world big names in the cement sector, Lafarge and Saint Gobain, fell 5,1% and 3,9%, respectively. In Frankfurt Heidelberg Cement lost 4,5%
