BANCO POPOLARE FLIES, GENERALI STRONGER THAN S&P. EUROPE ADVANCES AFTER THE SPD-CDU AGREEMENT
The Treasury placed all 7 billion euros of six-month BOTs in today's auction with rates still declining. The yield fell to 0,539% from 0,629% last month. Demand was 1,77 times the amount offered, down slightly from the previous 1,82.
The BTP trades at a yield of 4,04% (-1 basis point), the Spanish Bono yields 4,13%) (-2 basis points). After three consecutive sessions of decline, the Milan Stock Exchange is back on the rise. The Ftse Mib index +1% rises to 18.962. The other European Stock Exchanges are also up: London +0,23% and Paris +0,11%, Frankfurt +0,19% and Madrid +0,25%. Mining companies are up, Stoxx +1,2%.
Agreement in the night between CDU and SPD after 17 hours of negotiations. A minimum wage of 2015 euros per hour will be introduced from 8,5. Foreign drivers will pay toll on the motorway. Tobin tax on financial transactions. But it doesn't change Germany's stance on Europe's financial problems. German consumer confidence is at a six-year high, according to the index compiled by the research firm Gfk.
The volumes are contained, in view of tomorrow's Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. The review initiated by S&P does not affect Generali +1,81%. Opening the proceedings of the Investor Day in London this morning, the CEO Mario Greco confirmed the targets of the plan to 2015. Analysts promote Greco and appreciate the target of a leverage ratio below 35%, together with cost cutting and to the new strategy which will allow the company to give more generous dividends before 2015.
Fondiaria-Sai +1,2%, Unipol -0,2%. BancoPopolare is running up 6,05% after the announcement of the forthcoming merger with the subsidiary Credito Bergamasco in turn up 10%.
In the rest of the sector Unicredit +0,76%, Intesa +0,92%. Although Intesa Sanpaolo is still the preferred bank within the periphery, Crédit Suisse lowered the rating from outperform to neutral because the target price of 1,80 euro was reached but also after a 20 % per annum to reflect both a more cautious view on the bank's net interest income progression and higher loan loss provisions.
MontePaschi -0,49%, Ubi Banca +2,51%, Pop.Emilia +1,79%, Pop.Milan +2,12%.
The asset management industry closes the month of October with a new record for assets and a positive inflow result (+3,62 billion euros, 500 million more than the 3,14 billion in September) which brings subscriptions from the beginning of the year to 60,69 billion euro, the best result of the last ten years (+10 billion compared to 2005). Azimuth +0,27%, Mediolanum -0,31%. Industrial stocks were positive: Fiat +1,23%, Finmeccanica +0,95%, Pirelli +0,62%. Enel rose by 1,32%, Eni +0,4% and Telecom Italia +1,7%. World Duty Free +1%.
Among the small caps, Geox continues to march +2%. M&G Chemicals, formerly Mossi & Ghisolfi, has published in the Wall Street Journal the prospectus which shows that the chemical group from Tortona is about to launch a 592 million euro IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The transaction provides for the placement of 2,35 billion shares, equal to 35% of the capital, in a price range between 1,65 and 1,95 Hong Kong dollars.
