Standard & Poor's ax strikes again: this time it is the banking sector, some regions and local authorities, the Cassa depositi e prestiti and the Italian post office that are demoted.
“Negative” is the outlook for Intesa Sanpaolo, Mediobanca, Bnl and Findomestic. And if the rating of the four institutes is confirmed, the gloomy forecasts could also have an impact on this parameter in the future. “We would downgrade their rating in the event of a sovereign downgrade, given their primarily domestic business profiles,” S&P says. The answer came immediately from the financial markets: bank stocks listed in Milan show a "minus" sign.
At 13,00 pm Intesa Sanpaolo lost 2%, Mediobanca 1%, Unicredit 1,37%, Ubi Banca 0,77%.
Furthermore, according to the rating agency, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Poste Italiane are entities closely linked to the government and require completely similar treatment as regards creditworthiness. The respective ratings (A+ and A) are therefore confirmed, but with negative outlooks.
There are 12 local authorities to suffer a deterioration, including the Sicily region, the Emilia-Romagna region, the municipality of Genoa and the province of Rome.
But from China comes a curious lifesaver for Italy: the recent decision by Standard & Poor's on Italy's rating is "unfounded". This was stated by Dong Xian'an, chief economist of Peking First Advisory, quoted by Radiocor (which takes up the Daily China). Italy appears to be recovering from this quarter, while growth in the United States and Europe appears to have slowed down
