CHINA, NOW THE BANKS SUFFER. BAGS IN RED. AND EUROPE HAS SPREAD FEVER
The ghost of the recession has returned to agitate the lists from Beijing, after the diffusion Thursday morning of thePMI index a measure of the health of Chinese industry, which fell in March for the fifth consecutive month. This morning the confirmation that the second largest economy on the planet, while the clash at the top of the party is taking place, is at the turning point comes from the accounts of a large state bank: the Agricultural Bank of China, -3,1% in Hong Kong after reporting sharply declining profits and a robust increase in bad debts. Even Unicom China, the giant of mobile telephony, meanwhile marks an unexpected setback.
Reflectively, i Asian lists they closed the week with the heaviest session of 2012: -1,1% Tokyo, -1% the Hang Seng. Wall Street indices also ended in negative territory yesterday: Nasdaq and Dow Jones -0,8%, S&P 500 -0,88%. Although the Leading Indicator, a sort of super-index of the US economy, turned out to be better than expected. Futures, however, signal the prospect of a rebound for both US and London stock markets.
In Milan, the FtseMib index fell by 1,7%, London lost 0,79%, Paris -1,5%, Frankfurt -1,2%. In New York, the Dow Jones is down 0,8%, S&P -0,88%, Nasdaq -0,8%. The impact of the recession syndrome in fact threatens Europe above all, marked yesterday by two negative phenomena. First, it confirms that the slowdown in purchases from Asia closely threatens the German locomotive: the euro manufacturing PMI was down sharply in March due to the sharp German slowdown (from 50,2 to 48,1) the previous month, well below forecasts.
Furthermore, an even more serious issue for Italy, the bonds of Italy and Spain return to suffer. The yield on the 10-year BTP rose to 5,06%. The Italy-Germany spread widened by 16 basis points to 316. Spain is even more under fire: the ten-year Bonos crossed the 5,5% threshold for the first time in two months.
The Treasury can console itself with the success of the BTP Italy. Yesterday, the last day of subscription, orders for 1,588 billion euros arrived with 29.118 requests which, added to those collected in the previous three days, bring the total to 7,288 billion euros with 133.479 requests overall, about 80% coming from private individuals. Fears of a slowdown in the global economy have pushed crude oil prices down: the American WTI is traded at 104,9 dollars a barrel, down 2,2%, Brent at 122,5 dollars (-1,3%).
Other commodities are also down: platinum -2%, palladium -4%. On the European equity markets, the strongest sell-offs were in the shares of mining companies: the Stoxx index of this sector lost 3,4%. In the US, sales mainly affected stocks linked to oil, raw materials and those more linked to the economic cycle. Baker Hughes, Halliburton and Schlumberger, three giants in the oilfield services sector, are down 3% to 4%. In Piazza Affari Eni closed down 1,7%, Saipem -2,6%.
Massive losses for the banking sector, all over Europe. In Milan, reductions in the order of two percentage points for Unicredit, Intesa and Ubi. Larger drops for Banco Popolare -4,6% and Banca Popolare di Milano -3,9%. The Stoxx index of European banks fell by 1,9%.
After Clessidra, the Equinox fund also withdraws from the tender for Banca Monte Paschi. The stakes set by the Foundation are too many, the Optimum fund (representative of Italian institutional investors) and the Aleotti family, owner of Menarini, who could acquire up to 4% remain in the race. Insurance companies were also heavy: Generali lost 1,59%, after -4,6% the previous day. Mediolanum fell -4,4% on the day of presentation of the 2011 data.
In Milan, Finmeccanica lost 3,9% in the sector of industrial companies. A drop of 2,8% for Prysmian and 3% for Fiat Industrial. Among the mid caps, Maire Tecnimont fell sharply -17%, Prelios lost 9,5%.
