Overnight, Israel struck out, targeting sites in Iran, Iraq and Syria in response to the launch of 300 Iranian missiles last weekend. Asian stock markets responded to the news with a pronounced decline, while Wall Street had already closed lower following the Fed's comments. Oil reacted with a 3% jump and then retreated. The major indices of the Italian Stock Exchange and the main European financial markets begin the last session of the week with a sharp decline. The Eurostoxx50 future falls by 1,06%. Today is a day of technical deadlines: option contracts on stocks and indices dated April 2024 are coming to an end.
Israel's counterattack at 4.30 in the European morning
Israel launched a military attack against Iran at first light, around 4:30 am, on Ayatollah Khamenei's 85th birthday. At least three different explosions occurred near the military base in Isfahan, in the south of the country. Tehran, which immediately issued an air alert and maximum security measures throughout its territory and national skies, announced that Iranian air defenses shot down three drones launched by Israel, reporting that "there were no casualties or particular damage » and assured that all nuclear sites are safe. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also confirmed this.
Wall Street closes lower on Fed comments. Tesla leaves 3,55% on the floor
Already Wall Street, before the war attack, had closed Thursday's session in the red, weighed down by comments from members of the Federal Reserve board with a view to high rates for a longer period which affected market sentiment. The president of the Minneapolis Fed Neel Kashkari he called for patience in the reductions of rates, saying the first move may not happen until 2025. Major U.S. stock indexes ended the day with fractional variations. The Dow Jones gained 0,06% to 37.775 points, while the S&P500 suffered a decline of 0,22% to 5.011 points. Minus sign also for the Nasdaq (-0,52% to 15.602 points). Definitely a bad day for Tesla (-3,55% to 149,93 dollars). Deutsche Bank has cut the target price on the automotive group to 123 dollars, on the hypothesis of a delay in the launch of Model2; the experts also worsened their rating from “Buy” to “Hold”. Strong declines also on Microsoft, which closed the session at -1,82% e Amazon, which suffers a decline of 1,14%. Netflix, the US streaming giant, beat expectations with 9,3 million new subscribers. New subscribers between January and March were almost double the 4,84 million expected. Turnover and profits also rise. From 2025, however, no more user numbers.
Asian stocks fall. China forces Apple to remove WhatsApp
Heavy sell-off on Asian stock markets after news of Israeli attacks on Iran. On the macroeconomic front, Japan published inflation data for March, with an annual rate of 2,7%, down from the 2,8% recorded in February. The core inflation rate stood at 2,6%. It moves downwards Tokyo, with the Nikkei 225 leaving 2,66% on the floor; on the same line, Shenzhen loses 1,17% e Shanghai is in the red by -0,38%. Significantly worsening Hong Kong (-1,44%); as well as, the market is terrible Alone (-1,67%). Down Mumbai (-0,44%); on the same trend, downwards Sydney (-1,09%).
Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), removed the applications WhatsApp and Meta Threads from its Chinese app store following the instructions given by Beijing. Apple said on Friday that the Network and Data Regulator had "ordered" it to remove the two apps due to "national security concerns", according to a spokesperson for the US group. “We are obligated to follow the laws of the countries in which we operate, even when we disagree,” Apple said. Previously, Chinese users could access some blocked Western social media platforms by downloading the apps and using a virtual private network to use them. Apple's removal makes this option unusable.
Oil shoots up, then retreats
The price of Petroleum, which after the news of the attack had reacted with a rise of around 3% above 90 dollars, then slowed down. Brent futures are trading up 1'85% at 88,70 dollars a barrel. WTI futures reached $86, before falling back and trading up 2% at $84,40 a barrel. Iran is the third largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Their rose as much as 1,7% to $2.417,59, coming in just below last week's all-time high of $2.431,29, before losing ground and settling just below $2.400. The dollar, after Israel's attack on Iran, it strengthens: the euro/dollar exchange rate is worth 1,063 (-0,39%)
European stock markets down. Watch out for Tim and Unicredit
Le European stock exchanges opened lower in the wake of fears of an exacerbation of tensions in the Middle East. The futures on the Eurostoxx50 drops by 1,06%. Today is a day of technical deadlines: option contracts on stocks and indices dated April 2024 are coming to an end. Here's what to follow today.
Unicredit launches an issue with a minimum denomination of 10.000 euros which offers 9,4% for the first two years. The bond, which lasts 13 years, has a variable gross coupon equal to the 3-month Euribor rate from the third onwards, up to a maximum of 9,4%.
The shareholders' meeting of Prysmian approved the financial statements for the 2023 financial year - closed with a statutory net profit of 264,27 million euros - and resolved to assign a dividend of 0,7 euros per share for a total amount of approximately 191 million euros; With yesterday's meeting, the Bicocca cable company said goodbye to the CEO Valerio Battista, who has led the company for over 22 years, and the president Claudio De Cont, who has been at the top for two terms.
Tim has launched an exchange offer on a series of bonds with a total value of 12 billion euros in view of the closing of the Netco operation with KKR. The offer concerns bonds with maturities starting in 2026 and at the launch the amount of Tim bonds that can be exchanged was set at 5 billion euros. This is debt which, upon completion of the sale of the network to the American fund, will be transferred to the new company. In fact, whoever adheres to the proposal will become a creditor of the new network company, which will be controlled by the Optics Bidco vehicle. The operation, in jargon, is called liability management exercise.
Bialetti industry, a company listed on Euronext Milan and specialized in the production of coffee makers, small appliances and cooking tools, closed 2023 with revenues of 141,2 million euros, an increase of 6,1% compared to 2022. The net result was negative by 2,2 million euros (compared with a negative result of 4 million in 2022). This result is mainly affected by the increase in financial charges equal to 19,7 million euros (16,7 in 2022) generated by the increase in interest rates, an effect partially offset by the profit/(loss) from discontinued operations at net of the tax effects of 3,1 million (1,8 million in 2022) related to the disposal of the Cookware business.
Essilor Luxottica , the Italian-French multinational, closed the first quarter with revenues up 5,5%, helped by solid growth in Europe despite weak performance in North America. Revenues of the group, which produces Ray-Ban glasses among others, stood at 6,34 billion euros in the January-March period, slightly below Visible Alpha's consensus of 6,42 billion euros. Sales in North America, the group's main market, rose 1,7% at constant exchange rates, hit by weak performance in the sunglasses category.
MavenDanc announced that it had taken the decision to promote atakeover bid voluntary initiative aimed at acquiring all of the outstanding shares of Medica – integrated biomedical and MedTech group listed on Euronext Growth Milan – equal to 847.650 shares, representing 20,07% of the capital. The offeror will pay a fee of 27 euros for each share tendered in acceptance of the offer. The consideration incorporates a premium of 39,2% compared to the official share price on 18 April 2024 (19,4 euros). The overall value of the offer is approximately 22,89 million euros.
B for Bank. Today on the agenda Ordinary and extraordinary meeting. A change at the top is expected to converge towards the birth of the third pole. The Modena institute, 19,9% owned by Unipol, will appoint the new board of directors, a turning point that closes the mandate of Piero Montani and opens that of his successor Gianni Franco Papa. Financial sources expect a plebiscite of votes in support of the new top management which, in addition to the former Unicredit banker nominated by Unipol, will see Antonello Cabras, former number one of the Sardinia Foundation (second shareholder of Bper at 10%) as president, as well as Fabio Cerchiai and Matteo Cordero di Montezemolo as advisors.
Armani “does not rule out” merger or hypo in the succession plan. In an interview with Bloomberg, the owner of the fashion house said that “Independence is one of the founding values of everything I have created and certainly the one that I have guarded with the most tenacity, to the point of obstinacy. I think that independence from large groups could still be a driving value for the Armani group in the future, but I don't feel like ruling anything out. What has always characterized the success of my work is the ability to adapt to changing times."
spread. The spread rises to 143 from 140 basis points yesterday, with yields at 3,87% for the 2,43-year BTP and XNUMX% for the Bund of the same duration.
Rating expected for Italy tonight
Starting tonight, Italy will be under the scrutiny of the rating agencies. The first will be Standard & Poor's, tonight, then followed by Fitch, on May 3rd, and Moody's, on May 31st. For our country the general situation does not appear critical: according to the IMF the Italian economy will grow by 0,7% in 2024 and 2025 (an estimate confirmed for the current year, while that for 2025 was reduced by 1,1% previously), while the Government last week estimated growth of 1% this year and 1,2% next. Yesterday the governor of the Bank of Italy Fabio Panetta he said that “Taking into account the shocks, Italy's economic performance has been satisfactory.”
