The financial week in Asia starts on positive ground: the boost in Chinese GDP partly compensated for the signs of difficulty that emerged at the end of the week in Europe and the USA. The lists of Shanghai and Shenzhen (+0,8%) rose, but not too much. The other markets are slowing down, including Tokyo (-1%). Seoul was also weak (-2%) after the Korean Supreme Court upheld the 30-month prison sentence of Jay Y Lee, the heir to the Samsung empire, guilty of bribing the former President of the republic.
CHINESE EXPORT +18%
On the anniversary day of the closure of Wuhan, the cradle of the pandemic, a year ago, the Dragon's economy shows that it is in good health. From Beijing, which celebrates the memory of the lockdown with the release of a documentary film on daily life in the city at the time of Covid, comes the data on the formidable recovery of the Chinese economy. In the last quarter of 2020, China grew at a rate of 6,5%, half a point more than expected, thus causing its GDP to rise by 2,3% over the last twelve months. The growth was driven by exports (+18%) and industrial production (+7%): a performance that pushed up the renmimbi (for the first time since 2018 it flies above 6,5 against the dollar) and the flow of foreign investments on stock exchanges through Hong Kong (154 billion dollars in 2020).
It won't be easy to get bored in this week full of political, economic and financial events at all latitudes. Starting from the events of our house, dominated by the crisis that doesn't exist yet.
COUNT TODAY IN THE ROOM THE COUNTING BEGINS
Today and tomorrow Giuseppe Conte will go to the House and Senate to ask for trust in a climate of uncertainty about his future. Will he or won't he have the numbers to go on? The meetings continued until nightfall, including the majority summit. For now, both Cinquestelle and Pd seem willing to move forward without trying to recover the Renzians. While Prime Minister Conte prepares the speech to be delivered in the Chamber, where he can count on the majority, pending the confrontation in the Senate.
ECB ALERT AWAITING THE DIRECTORY
To follow the trend of the spread, so far kept at bay by the support of the ECB which will hold its first summit of 2021 on Thursday. At the center of the discussion will be the provision of greater liquidity and communications to this end. Eurozone bond yields should therefore not rise above zero. A rise in inflation would be welcomed, but such a possibility appears remote. The same goes for the Bank of England. Tomorrow the Zew index on German business confidence will be released. Friday will be the turn of the Eurozone manufacturing PMIs.
THE WORD FIAT DISAPPEARS FROM THE STOCK MARKET AFTER 118 YEARS
Meanwhile, Piazza Affari is ready to experience a truly historic day: the Fiat stock disappears, which had debuted here in 1903, then making way for Fiat Chrysler in 2014. Today the Stellantis adventure begins, the result of the merger with Peugeot, which will celebrated simultaneously in Milan and Paris. But the awaited press conference of Carlos Tavares, the number one of the giant in fourth place in the world ranking of cars, will be held tomorrow afternoon at 15,40 pm in digital form. The stock market symbol of the new holding company will be "Stla".
TOMORROW TAVARES WILL UNVEIL THE STELLANTIS PLAN
The shares of the two parent companies took leave of the markets on Friday down: - 4,35% FCA, Peugeot - 4,21%. FCA will pay its shareholders an extraordinary dividend of €1,84 linked to the merger on January 29. However, FCA shareholders are compensated with 23% of the components company Faurecia, controlled by PSA (in whose capital the French state also figures), supplier of FCA and other car players.
INTERIM DIVIDEND FOR ENEL AND SNAM
At Piazza Affari, the interim dividend was released this morning by Enel (0,175 euros paid on 20 January 2021) and Snam (0,0998 euros paid on 20 January 2021).
No less important is International Financial Day, despite the closure of Wall Street for Martin Luther King Day.
BIDEN CANCEL KEYSTONE OIL PIPELINE
US finance is in great tension, on the eve of the most contested presidential relay ever. Donald Trump gave his successor another gift: The US government on Friday revoked the special permits that allowed Intel and other Huawei suppliers to sell their products. But Joe Biden wastes no time. His chief of staff announced that already on Wednesday, even before Thursday's inauguration ceremony, the new administration will begin to dismantle Trump's decisions, at that time already in flight to the Florida golf courses. Biden's staff announced the return to the Paris agreement on climate control, the lifting of the ban on entry into the United States from several Muslim countries, the cancellation of student debts, the moratorium on unpaid mortgages, as well as the obligation of the mask on travel between state and state. There will also be the cancellation of the nine billion dollar pipeline that the Obama administration had stopped for environmental reasons and Donald Trump had restarted. Brent oil fell 0,9% to $54,6.
JANET YELLEN: I DON'T WANT A WEAK DOLLAR
The dollar is up slightly against a basket of benchmark currencies, after a week of gains. The Wall Street Journal reports that Janet Yellen has no intention of doing anything to weaken the dollar: the former governor of the Federal Reserve appointed by Joe Biden as head of the Treasury Secretary will say it explicitly in the Senate, where she will go shortly for the hearing that anticipates the approval vote of the senators.
AND MACRON FORBIDDEN THE SALE OF CARREFOUR
The confirmation of Emmanuel Macron's protectionism should be noted. The president vetoed the sale of Carrefour to the Canadian group Couche-Tard, which had presented a 16,2 billion euro offer to take over the transalpine food retail giant with the full agreement of the three major shareholders (Bernard Arnault , the Moulin family and the Galeries Lafayette group), willing to sell their shares, equal to 23% of the capital. The motivation, grotesque, is to ensure food independence. In reality, in an election year, Macron does not want the transfer of ownership of the company that boasts the largest number of employees, despite the commitment of the buyers not to cut employment and to invest three billion.
