After a session Use characterized by the heaviness of Nasdaq and chip stocks, today the European stock exchanges they open on the rise: Milan does well - driven by Prysmian, Enel and the banks - and Paris, Frankfurt is weaker. Nasdaq futures are positive by 0,4%.
Wall Street weighed down by Nasdaq. Nvidia for over 3%
The main US stock indexes ended yesterday's session in negative territory, driven mainly by chip stocks. Uncertainties about the next ones remain on Wall Street Fed moves on rates, which could remain where they are for longer. They will arrive right from the United States important macro data today. At 14pm the weekly jobless claims (previous: -30 to 11.000), the Philadelphia Fed index for April (previous: 211.000 points; consensus: 3,2 points) and at 0pm the super index for March ( previous: +16% month over month; consensus: +0,1% month over month) and existing home sales also in March (previous: 0,1 million units; consensus: 4,38 million units) .
Il Dow Jones yesterday it lost 0,12% to 37.753 points, while the S&P500 recorded a decline of 0,58% to 5.022 points. The largest decline was seen at Nasdaq (-1,15% to 15.583 points) put under pressure by chip stocks. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down 3,25%. Intel and NVIDIA they lost 1,6% and 3,87% respectively. Also worth noting is the Travelers insurance group which leaves 8% on the ground after a first quarter profit below expectations. Mobileye gains 2,75% after Reuters wrote that the Israeli automotive technology company is ready to ship at least 46 million new chips for assisted driving. Eli Lilly advances 0,5% after its weight-loss drug helped reduce episodes of irregular breathing in patients with obstructive sleep apnea in two late-stage studies.
Last night the Federal Beige Book, highlighted that economic activity in the United States has increased slightly since the end of February and that the outlook remains cautiously optimistic. Stable inflation is expected at a slow pace, but in some districts the perception of increasing risks in the short term has increased.
Asian stock markets on a positive note. Watch out for US tariffs on China
Asian stock markets rise slightly. But Beijing is worried because it risks US tariffs of 25% on steel
At 7 am Italian the Nikkei rose by 30% to 0.3 points, after having fluctuated between a minimum of 38.080 points and a maximum of 37.645 points, Hong Kong by 38.217% and Shanghai by 1,12%.
Lagarde: inflation in Europe and the USA, two different animals to tame
Even on the European front, attention is on the trend of inflation, but here the situation appears more serene and the president of the ECB also underlined this Christine Lagarde speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington explaining that theinflation in Europe and the USA two different animals to tame. “We have not had a recession in Europe but we have had slow and modest growth. The cumulative growth from the pandemic to today has been around 3% versus 6% in the US,” she said. “We now see timid signs of recovery and expect an acceleration over the course of the year and over the course of 2025-26. I don't think we can give a vote to who did better. We are now at 2,4% inflation while in the USA we are at 3,2%". Just yesterday, Eurostat's inflation trend was published which confirmed that inflation in the bloc fell to 2,4% last month, from 2,6% in February. The Italian figure is 1,2%.
The president of the Bundesbank is a little more worried Joachim Nagel who said in an interview with German business daily WirtschaftsWoche published today that price pressure in the eurozone could continue for some time. Furthermore, Nagel added, it is not entirely clear whether the 2% inflation target can be reached next year and maintained at this level.
More optimistic Peter Cipollone, member of the ECB's executive board, spoke at the Institute of International Finance (IIF) forum in Washington when he said that the ECB will receive a lot of new data in June and July that could strengthen the case for interest rate cuts. The ECB has signaled the possibility of a rate cut for June 6, but the various central bankers have largely avoided giving further details, although some have already raised the hypothesis of a second move in July. “If we see that the data coming in, and we will get a lot of it in July and June, confirm our expectation that inflation is indeed moving towards target, it will be appropriate to remove some of the restrictions that we have placed,” Cipollone said.
The European Council meets today in Brussels. Participating, among others, is the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.
Bitcoin above $61.300, the halving is approaching
Pendingly, the euro advances by 0,61% to 1,0683 dollars. While bitcoin reaches 61.379 dollars, -4,29%. The halving starts on April 20th: daily bitcoin emissions will be halved. This is a crucial event for the cryptocurrency sector and the entire financial landscape, as reducing the reward for mining causes a decline in the number of new bitcoins in circulation, potentially driving up the price of existing cryptocurrencies.
Gold and oil prices rebound
Oil prices rebound (WTI +0,23% to 82,88 dollars a barrel and Brent +0,31% to 87,56 dollars a barrel) after a 3% drop in the previous session due to signs indicating a fuel demand lower than expected, thanks to the increase in oil inventories in the United States, the largest consumer of crude oil in the world. JP Morgan analysts highlighted in a note on Tuesday that global oil consumption in April was 200.000 barrels per day lower than forecast, averaging 101 million barrels per day. Since the beginning of the year, demand has increased by 1,7 million barrels per day, down from the November forecast of 2 million barrels per day.
What to follow today
European stock exchanges expected rising at the start of the session. The future on the Eurostoxx50 marks +0,33%. Yesterday the closing was quite positive (Piazza Affari 0,72%, Madrid rises by 0,97%, followed by Paris +0,62%, London +0,37%, Frankfurt +0,09%)
On the Milanese price list, pay attention to stm as memory chip maker Micron Technology is about to get more than $6 billion in grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce to help pay for domestic chip factory projects, Bloomberg News reported. The assignment, not yet definitive, could be announced as early as next week.
Among the banks, watch out Unicredit which is looking to Eastern Europe for its next acquisition. The CEO of Unicredit in an interview with Bloomberg says that for the next acquisition the group is looking to Eastern Europe. The market is also betting on Commerzbank and Julius Baer, already on the radar of several big names. But the rumors about Generali do not die down. Furthermore, shareholder meetings are scheduled Banca Mediolanum, Banco Bpm, Prysmian and Maire Tecnimont.
Brunello Cucinelli closed the first quarter with revenues growing by 17,9% at constant exchange rates (+16,5% at current exchange rates) and confirms the estimate of an increase of around 10% for the entire year. For the current year Cucinelli expects "a healthy and fair profit", we read in a note. Revenues, totaling 309,1 million euros in the quarter, saw double-digit growth in America (+19,5%), Europe (+13,9%) and Asia (+16%). In Asia, the company achieved “significant growth” across all major geographies, including China, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East. In the conference call, Brunello Cucinelli said he sees an ebit margin of 16,6%-16,7% for this year.
OVS extension communicated the results of the 2023/2024 financial year (the company closes the financial statements on January 31st), closed with net sales of 1,54 billion euros, an increase of 1,5% compared to the 1,51 billion achieved in the the previous financial year. The management of OVS have proposed to distribute a 2024 dividend (relating to the 2023/2024 financial year) equal to 0,07 euros per share. The adjusted gross operating margin improved, going from 180,2 million to 182,2 million euros (+1,1%); the margin remained stable at 11,9%. OVS ended the 2023/2024 financial year with an adjusted net profit of 75,9 million euros, down compared to the 78,4 million recorded in the previous financial year; the reported final result was 52,4 million euros. OVS management expects further growth in sales for 2024/2025 compared to the financial year just ended; management has reported that sales since the beginning of the financial year have increased by approximately 5% compared to the same period of 2023/2024.
Steel mills of Italy. The Minister of Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, signed the decree extending the extraordinary administration procedure also to the Holding (Acciaierie d'Italia Holding), confirming the extraordinary commissioners already appointed for the other Group companies, Giancarlo Quaranta, Giovanni Fiori and Davide Tabarelli.
Mfe. Berlusconi house closed 2023 with a net profit, excluding the contribution of Prosiebensat1, of 217,5 million euros compared to 184,7 million in 2022 (+17,7%). The group's advertising revenues recorded an increase of 6% in the first quarter of 2024.
Tim. BluBell Capital Partners has asked Consob to ascertain whether the list of Tim's board for the renewal of the board of directors "hides a hidden pact between some shareholders and the outgoing board of directors such that the funds and Cdp have not presented autonomous lists in change to see their representatives included in the Council List (Gorno Tempini for the Cdp; Camagni, Ferro-Luzzi and Carli for the funds). Tim responded that “it cannot but dispute the serious and unfounded allegations regarding the existence of hidden agreements between Tim and its shareholders and will immediately proceed to initiate the appropriate initiatives.
