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Stock markets today 24 October: Piazza Affari turns the radar on Unicredit accounts. T-bonds below 5%, watch out for Microsoft and Alphabet

At the center of the attention of Piazza Affari are the accounts of the bank led by Andrea Orcel, which rose at the opening. The rise in yields on US T-bonds and BTPs is slowing. Big Tech's quarterly reports arrive on Wall Street

Stock markets today 24 October: Piazza Affari turns the radar on Unicredit accounts. T-bonds below 5%, watch out for Microsoft and Alphabet

That's enough. Yesterday afternoon Bill Ackman, one of the most important investors on Wall Street, announced that he had closed his short position on US Treasury securities, one of the sources of the massive sales of T-bonds that had pushed prices well beyond the 5% threshold. Even Bill Gross, another key figure in the bond market, said he was satisfied for now with the results achieved by betting against Treasury bonds. The effect was immediate: the 30-year bonds, which had already reached 5,18% (a 16-year high), dropped to around 4,90% with an immediate benefit for the shares. Same movement also in Europe, final crescendo for BTP and Piazza Affari. But the news of the day serves above all to give a measure of the market fragility, agitated by the winds of war and by everything that pushes us to escape from risk. Today, however, Toro plays the wild card: le quarterly reports from Microsoft and Alphabet, harbingers of good news. Milan is no exception: the session is destined to be dominated by Unicredit's accounts.

Unicredit: Orcel promises a 2024 squad

This time too, Andrea Orcel did not betray expectations: Unicredit achieved the eleventh quarter of growth and closed the 9 months with a profit of 6,7 billion. The third quarter result is above 2,3 billion, well above analysts' estimates who had expected 1,9 billion euros. The bank sees a net profit of "at least" 2024 billion for 7,25 with a distribution to shareholders of at least 6,5 billion. UniCredit has opted to contribute 1,1 billion to the 2024 extraordinary tax on banks, allocating the amount to non-distributable own reserves

The institute's accounts, especially after the conference call in the morning, could give a boost to the banking list. For the rest, futures signal a cautious start: Eurostoxx -0,1%. And so it was: Unicredit soars to +2,49% while Andrea Orcel's conference call with the analysts is coming to an end. The Ftse Mib is just above parity at +0,09%.

PMI indices and German confidence: today's data

  • Attention to the PMI indices of France and Germany coming out in the next few hours. Also on the agenda is German consumer confidence, seen essentially unchanged in November.
  • Milan closed yesterday with an increase of 0,7%, the result of the final recovery. 
  • Government bonds also began a rally late in the day. The ten-year BTP at 4,83%. Bund at 2,87%. Spread down to 196 basis points.

China: sovereign fund in action to avoid stock market crash

The contrasting performance of Asian stock markets this morning provides a good snapshot of the state of uncertainty in the markets. Stock prices in the region hit eleven-month lows. But, in the end, we saw a good reaction from the Chinese stock markets, the ones that suffered the most.

  • The Shanghai and Shenzen stock markets rise this morning on the news of the ETF purchases completed tonight by the Chinese sovereign fund. The Shanghai Composite index gained 0,4%.
    Central Huijin Investment, the stock market arm of the $1.400 trillion state fund, said in a brief note that it had purchased an unspecified amount of ETFs. The accumulation strategy started at the beginning of the month with purchases of banks will continue, the statement said.
  • The Hong Kong stock market reopened lower after the long weekend: Hang Seng index -0,8%.
  • Tokyo's Nikkei fell 0,7%. The yen strengthens slightly. Cross at 149,7. 
  • Japan's economic activity contracted in October, for the first time since December 2022, according to flash estimates from Jibun Bank. The country's composite purchasing managers' index stood at 49,9, up from 52,1 in September.

 Wall Street awaits Big Tech's accounts

Yesterday, after four sessions of decline, tech stocks rebounded on Wall Street. The Nasdaq rose 0,3%. The Dow Jones fell by 0,6%.

  • Operators are waiting for the Big Tech quarterly reports (starting today with Microsoft and Alphabet) and the FED pronouncement of November XNUMXst.
  • The S&P500 (-0,2%, 4.217) and the Nasdaq (+0,3%, 13.018) defend their respective critical thresholds at 4 and 12.600 points, which keep the American stock market in bullish mode.
  • Bitcoin runs to $34.337 +9% on the highest since May 2022, supported by optimism about the possibility of the imminent arrival of a Bitcoin ETF. Anticipation for this event grew after a US court sided with Grayscale, at odds with the US SEC, in its attempt to turn its huge Bitcoin GBTC fund into a listed ETF. 

Weak oil awaiting hostages

Brent ($90,30), WTI ($85,90). Price slightly up from -3,2% yesterday, worst session in two weeks. The descent coincided with the very faint glimmers of the conflict in Israel. L'land invasion of the Gaza Strip has been postponed. Hamas said on Monday it had freed two Israeli women who were among more than 200 hostages. Another 50 could be freed with Qatari mediation. But Israel continued its bombardment of Gaza after launching airstrikes overnight on southern Lebanon. 

Stellantis in the sights of the Uaw. A consortium for Juventus

All attention is focused today on Unicredit's accounts. Other topics:

stellantis. The US United Auto Workers union has called a strike against the major Stellantis assembly plant, affecting production of the RAM 1500 pick-up, in a major escalation of the strike that began more than a month ago.

Juventus has started contacts with some leading banking institutions for a possible consortium to guarantee the expected 200 million euro capital increase.

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Novartis raised its operating profit targets again this morning. The net result marks an increase of 18% to 3,59 billion francs, better than expected.

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