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Stock Market May 17: Alibaba excels in Asia. In Milan, eyes on Saipem and Poste

After the records of the past sessions, today the positions are added. Saipem and Poste must be followed in Piazza Affari

Stock Market May 17: Alibaba excels in Asia. In Milan, eyes on Saipem and Poste

Le Bags today they will move cautiously, adjusting positions to close a record week. Furthermore, Friday the 17th will be a technical session for the European stock exchanges, as the option contracts come to an end. In Asia it stands out Alibaba which drags the other technologists along.

Wall Street closes little changed after the highs

After running so much, Wall Street closes trading around previous levels. On the one hand he took advantage of it, on the other the freezing shower coming from some officials of the Fed who said it is still too early to cut interest rates and that the Fed needs more confidence in the trajectory of inflation to begin easing monetary policy. The consumer price index for April rose 3,4% from a year earlier, down from 3,5% in March, while prices excluding food and energy rose 3,6%, the smallest increase in the last three years. However, the president of the New York Fed, John Williams, said he sees “no indicator that tells me there is a reason to change the stance of monetary policy now and I don't expect to get the greater certainty that we need to have about inflation progressing towards the target of 2% in the very short term”.

Today the leading index for April 2024 is on the agenda (16.00 pm). Consensus: -0,3% m/m which will offer new ideas for the Fed.

Yesterday new records were achieved by Dow Jones in the intraday, above 40 thousand points, and then concluded at 39.869 points. The S&P-500 is below the parity line, stopping at 5.297 points. The Nasdaq 100 showed a fractional decline (-0,21%); with a similar direction, the S&P 100 was just below parity (-0,2%). At the top of the ranking of the American giants making up the Dow Jones, Wal-Mart (+6,97%), 3M (+3,58%), Boeing (+ 3,44%) and Intel (+2,46%). The worst performances, however, were recorded on Cisco Systems, which closed at -2,68%, but also suffers Caterpillar, which highlights a loss of 2,59%.

In Asia, Alibaba leads all the technological companies

It's the index Hang Seng of Hong Kong to give their best (+0,49%) thanks to Alibaba jumped 7%, to a seven-month high, after news that an investment firm Scion Asset Management, run by Michael Burry, of “The Big Short” fame, increased his stake in the e-commerce giant, which became Scion's second largest holding, valued at about $9 million, after Burry acquired an additional 50.000 shares. Alibaba's gains have trickled down to other big tech names including Tencent Holdings and JD.com. Burry also increased his stake in the latter, which is now his largest holding. Also in evidence was Chinese tech giant Baidu, which grew by almost 4%, after predicting greater demand for artificial intelligence despite disappointing first quarter results.

In China the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite rose just 0,10% after a barrage of macro data presented a mixed picture for Asia's largest economy. Industrial production grew more than expected in April, indicating that manufacturing activity is recovering. But retail sales missed expectations (growing at the slowest pace since 2022), as did fixed capital investment.

Instead, the Nikkei index of Japan lost 0,57%, while the largest Topix increased by 0,2%.

What to follow today

After yesterday's bearish session for the European stock exchanges, which have discounted the weight of the dividend coupons that various companies are paying out in recent days, today the opening is seen as cautious. Also because today is a day of technical deadlines: the option contracts on shares and indices dated May 2024 are coming to an end. The future on the Eurostoxx50) is down by 0,22%. Yesterday Business Square it resisted the wind of sales, thanks also to the good performance of the banking sector.

On the agenda today in the eurozone is the index of consumer prices (flash estimate) in April 2024 (11.00 am). Consensus: +0,6% m/m; +2,4% y/y (preliminary) and the consumer price index (core, flash estimate) in April 2024

Saipem announced that it has been awarded a new offshore contract by Azule Energy Angola (a subsidiary of Azule Energy Holdings, a corporate joint venture between Eni and BP) for the development of the Ndungu Field project, as part of the Agogo Integrated West Hub project, located approximately 180 km off the coast of Angola. The value of the contract is approximately $850 million. The award of this project consolidates Saipem's position in Angola, both in deep waters and in shallow waters.

UnipolSai Insurance has completed the placement with Italian and foreign institutional investors of a level 2 instrument known as "Tier 2" to be issued in dematerialized form and to be centralized at Euronext Securities (formerly Monte Titoli), in Euro and at a fixed rate for a nominal amount equal to 750 million euros. The issue and settlement date of Tier 2 is scheduled for May 23, 2024 and Tier 2 is issued at 99,853% and corresponds to a fixed annual coupon of 4,9%. During the placement, orders exceeding 80 billion euros were collected, 1,65% of them abroad, with book coverage of approximately 2,2 times.

Poste Italiane closed the first quarter of 2024 with increasing revenues and decreasing profitability, but above the analysts' consensus. Revenues amounted to 3,05 billion euros, an increase of 0,71% compared to the 3,02 billion achieved in the same period of the previous year. The operating result, however, decreased from 767 million to 706 million euros (-8%). Poste Italiane ended the quarter with a net profit of 501 million euros, compared to the 540 million recorded in the first three months of 2023 (-7,1%). The quarterly results were better than the analysts' consensus (published on the company's website), which indicated revenues and net profit at 3,03 billion and 496 million euros respectively. Poste Italiane's management has reported that the results are in line with the achievement of the financial and shareholder remuneration objectives of Capital Markets Day 2024.

Citroen, a French brand which is now part of the Stellantis group, has announced that it has recalled more than 600 thousand C3 and DS3 cars in around twenty countries due to a problem with the airbag on models that were produced over the course of about ten years , between 2009 and 2019, and which are no longer marketed today. In particular, the recall concerns 497.171 Citroen C3s and 108.601 DS3s, models which are also very popular among Italian customers.

Desio Bank signed up with Banca Popolare di Puglia and Basilicata an agreement for the purchase of a business unit made up of a total of 14 bank branches located in Lazio, Lombardy, Veneto, Marche and Piedmont.

La Consob has updated her Black List. There remain 19 Italian Stock Exchange companies included in the Consob Black List. There remain 19 Italian Stock Exchange companies included in the Consob Black List. Spotlight always on Tessellis (formerly Tiscali): at the end of March 2024 the telephone company's net debt had fallen below 95 million euros. The net financial position of Cleansing, although worsening compared to the previous month.

Sabadell rejected the takeover offer by bbva because the latter underestimated the negative effect of the transaction on capital reserves and overestimated the cost savings.
The CEO of Sabadell said it, Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno, in his first public comments after launching the hostile bid. The impact on the capital ratio would be “significantly higher than the 30 basis points” expected by BBVA, Gonzalez-Bueno said at a banking event a week after BBVA launched a hostile takeover bid for 12,23 billion euros entirely in shares.The surprise move provoked immediate opposition from the government.

Pfizer has reached an agreement to resolve legal disputes surrounding its heartburn drug, zantac. The agreement includes payments of up to $250 million to settle more than 10.000 lawsuits in the United States, the United States reported. Financial Times Thursday 16. The announcement comes after months of negotiations. The lawsuits filed against the pharmaceutical giant concern alleged cancer risks associated with use of the drug, which was withdrawn from the market in 2006.

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