In a few hours, the Fed bankers will begin the expected year-end "conclave" which will lead to the first US rate hike since 2006. And the markets are grappling with the effects of the moves, albeit already discounted, by Janet Yellen and associates . Meanwhile, Piazza Affari is preparing to follow the duel in the Telecom meeting between Vivendi and the fund managers.
Above all, the volatility of oil prices is growing, the protagonist of thrilling ups and downs. In New York, the American WTI rose to 36,60 dollars a barrel in the evening, after falling by 3%, to 34,5 dollars. Brent, traded at 37,92 dollars (-1,6%), fell to a low of 36,4 dollars. Oil of both grades fell about 11% last week.
As a result, the ending was uphill for oil stocks: Exxon +2,3%, Chevron +3,3%. In the afternoon in Piazza Affari Eni had lost 2,9%, Tenaris -2,3%, Saipem -1,9%. The rebound favored the positive closure of Wall Street: the Dow Jones rose by 0,6%, S&P +0,5%, Nasdaq +0,38%.
A JUNK FUND FAILS IN NEW YORK, THE YUAN STILL DOWN
The bankruptcy of Third Avenue, a fund specializing in junk bonds, raised the adrenaline rate of the markets: it hasn't happened since 2008.
In Asia, in addition to the volatility of crude oil, there is yet another drop in the parity of the yuan, down for the eighth consecutive day, now at its lowest level since 2010: Beijing, faced with the prospect of a strengthening of the dollar, intends to reduce its dependence on the US currency to the advantage of the euro and yen, a move that fuels suspicions of a possible competitive devaluation.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange starts to close down 1,68% this morning. The Chinese markets, on the other hand, rose moderately: Hong Kong +0,2%, Shanghai +0,2%. Positive Seoul (+0,2%).
Despite expectations of rate hikes, the dollar, instead of strengthening, dropped significantly, with the euro rising this morning to 1,101, from 1,098 at Friday's close.
BLACK MONDAY FOR BUSINESS PLACE (-2,4%)
The weak oil/strong euro mix contributed to a difficult session for European stocks, which closed sharply lower yesterday. The Milan FtseMib index lost 2,4%, the Paris Stock Exchange fell by 1,6%, Frankfurt -1,9%. All sector indices finished down, the strongest losses concern the Raw Materials (-3,3%), Oil (-2,2%) and Automotive (-2,6%) sectors.
Government bond yields rose: the 1,62-year BTP rate rose to 1,53%, from 105 on Friday evening. The spread with the Bund is XNUMX points.
TELECOM, BOLLORE' STRENGTHENS AWAIT THE CLASH
A day of strong tensions for Telecom Italia, which closed with the ordinary share down by 1% after significant increases in the morning. On the other hand, savings lost 10%. On Friday the first shareholder, Vivendi, owner of 20% of the capital, announced that at today's meeting it will not vote in favor of the conversion of savings shares into ordinary shares, thus making it impossible to approve the operation.
In the meantime, proxy advisers have suggested that the funds vote against Videndi's proposal to ask for four representatives to sit on the board. It is not excluded that there will be a showdown on the board ahead of the April 2017 deadline.
The French company has meanwhile announced that it has strengthened its position with the purchase of 56 million ordinary shares (equal to 0,4%). According to the latest communications, Telecom has received subscriptions for the meeting for 55,6438% of the share capital.
CAPITAMBOLO FIAT. RECORD THUD OF PININFARINA
Heavy hit by Fiat Chrysler (-5%), worst stock in the automotive sector in Europe. The decline was triggered by the news (source Fiom CGIL) of a new redundancy fund at the Maserati plant in Grugliasco, with the forecast of a halving of production in the first two months of 2016. Sergio Marchionne said that "within 2-3 years" Alfa could return to racing in F1. Meanwhile, the process for the listing of Ferrari on Piazza Affari has been completed on 4 January.
The company has completed the counts necessary to determine the number of Ferrari common shares that will be assigned to the holders of its convertible bonds due in 2016: the number of common shares underlying $100 of convertible bonds was equal to 7,7369, XNUMX.
The losses of Volkswagen (-4,2%) and Peugeot (-2,9%) were also heavy. Pininfarina collapses (-68%) after the announcement that the company has been sold to the Indian group Mahindra & Mahindra, which will launch a tender offer on the free float at 1,1 euro per share. On Friday, the stock had closed at 4,2 euros.
But yesterday was also a difficult day for other industrial stocks. StM lost 3,2% on the day of the quarterly dividend, equal to 0,10 dollars (0,09 euros) per share, for a total of 0,40 dollars (about 0,366 euros) per year. The gross yield is equal to 5,9%. The Italian-French group yesterday announced an agreement with Semtech, a leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, for the development of Internet of Things (IoT) applications by mobile network operators.
Finmeccanica -3,3%. Heavy decline for Buzzi (-4,5%). Enel falls (-3,2%) together with the utilities. The exception is A2A (+1,7%). ICBPI raised the target price on the share from 1,28 to 1,66 euro, confirming the buy recommendation. Banca Imi then confirmed the add recommendation and the target price at 1,52 euro, explaining that it expects a positive final outcome of the affair linked to the offer for Lgh.
BANKS STILL UNDER FIRE. ALL MPS IS WORTH 3,5 BILLION
The crisis of confidence in Italian banks does not subside. Once again the decline of Monte Paschi stands out (-4,1%, total capitalization of 3,5 billion) to new historic lows, eliminating the recovery attempt of the morning favored by the judgment of Esane, which reiterated the Outperform recommendation, filing the target price to 2,40 euro from 2,60 euro with a theoretical appreciation of the quotation exceeding 100%. The performance since the beginning of 2015 is -40%.
Popolare di Sondrio (-5,37%) and Banca Carige (-5,36%) did worse. Difficult day also for Unicredit (-3,2%). Pop.Emilia loses 2,1%, Banco Popolare -2,8%. Limit Chemistry damage (-1,8%). Among the insurance companies, Generali fell by 2,6%, UnipolSai -2,9%.
In asset management, Anima (-2,4%) and Azimut (-3,2%) were weak, announcing the agreement to acquire the entire capital of the Australian Ri Toowoomba (Rit) through its Australian subsidiary Az Next Generation Advisory for about 7,5 million Australian dollars, about 4,9 million euros.
According to reports from the Financial Times, the Central Bank of Ireland is about to launch a vast investigation into asset management activities domiciled in its territory. A spokesman for the Irish regulator told the newspaper the inquiry would concern commissions and costs charged by the companies to clients.
