"He's just a crook and a big liar." These are the kindest words to President Trump uttered yesterday by his former lawyer and friend, Michael Cohen, in his testimony before Congress, who accused him both of improprieties in the presidential election against the Democrats and of payments to a porn star.
Meanwhile, the summit in Hanoi between Trump and the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un ended in stalemate. “The meeting was productive – said the American President – but it is still too early to sign anything. On denuclearization, President Kim was not ready to give us what we want: sometimes it is necessary to leave the negotiating table". Trump also said he "refused the request to lift the sanctions" made by Pyongyang. "The differences have been reduced", but Kim "has a certain vision that does not coincide with ours", concluded the president.
Geopolitics continues to hold sway on the markets awaiting economic data that do not promise to be brilliant. Starting from data on US GDP which is expected to rise by a modest +2,3% in the fourth quarter from the previous +3,4%. And the European PMI data due out tomorrow promises no better.
This too explains the caution of traders, who are hardly disturbed by the clashes between India and Pakistan: the Mumbai Stock Exchange is up slightly, as is the rupee against the dollar.
“MUCH REMAINS TO BE DONE ON DUTIES”
The CSI 300 index of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets marks a drop of 0,2%. The manufacturing sector is declining for the third month in a row, slipping to the lowest values since 2016. Hong Kong's Hang Seng, on the other hand, is at parity.
Tokyo's Nikkei was also down (-0,3%). Consumer sales and auto and electronics manufacturing disappoint.
Yesterday on Wall Street the Dow Jones closed down by 0,3%, the Nasdaq and the S&P500 almost unchanged.
The governor of the Fed, Jerome Powell, reiterated in the House the judgments already made the day before in the Senate. The trade representative Robert Lighthizer reported on the negotiations with China: it is going well, he said, but there is no need to talk about an imminent closure: "A lot remains to be done".
THUD OF CELGENE. TENCENT TRADES UNIVERSAL
The fall of the biotech giant Celgene (-9%) should be noted after the stock market. The Wellington fund, the first shareholder of Bristol Myers, the pharmaceutical company which at the beginning of the year had launched a public offer with a 50% premium on the previous day's prices, said no to the merger.
According to Reuter, a sensational operation is looming: the private KKR, paired with the Chinese giant Tencent, is in talks to acquire control of Universal Music from Vivendi, a 20 billion deal.
Brent oil down 0,3% to $66,2 this morning, North Sea crude finished up nearly 2% yesterday, also due to the sharp drop in US strategic inventories.
MILAN ONLY BAG WITH THE PLUS SIGN
Strengthened by the push from the banks, the Milan Stock Exchange (+0,19% to 20.498 points) was the only one to close the day in positive territory. During the session, the index had reached the new highs since mid-October at 20.560 points. It was the fourth consecutive increase.
The other European lists closed in negative ground, starting from Frankfurt: -0,41% after six positive sessions despite Bayer's leap forward (+4,2%).
DUTCH GOVERNMENT BLITZ ON AIR FRANCE/KLM
Paris -0,26%: Air France-KLM loses 12%, after the surprise entry into the capital of the Dutch state with a 12,7% stake.
Iag, the holding company that controls British Airways and Iberia has instead decided to distribute an extraordinary dividend: the stock lost 7% in two days. Madrid falls by 0,15%.
Outside the Eurozone, London -0,58%, Zurich -0,52%.
EU: ITALY, GREECE AND CYPRUS THE MOST UNBALANCED COUNTRIES
Together with Greece and Cyprus, Italy is one of the countries of the European Union which continue to show an excessive economic imbalance. The EU executive document once again highlights the weaknesses of the 2019 budget law "which provides for - we read - economic policy measures that cancel the progress of important previous reforms, in particular in terms of pensions, without including measures that favor the recovery of growth potential ”.
EU commissioner Pierre Moscovici underlined that when economic expansion slows down "there must be repercussions on the stability of public finances". And this is known to everyone, including of course the Italian government, added the EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs.
TRIA ACCUSES GERMANY, THEN GOES BACK
Italy in 2013 was "practically blackmailed" by Germany on the implementation of the bail-in. This is what Giovanni Tria said in a hearing in the Senate. “I think that when the bail-in was introduced they were all against it – he said – What I know is that the Bank of Italy opposed it in a discreet way, Fabrizio Saccomanni, at least I read one of his statements, was practically blackmailed by the Finance Minister German, that if Italy did not accept, the news would spread that Italy did not accept because it had a banking system close to bankruptcy”. In the evening, the Italian minister backtracked: it was "an evocative but unhappy expression, without a specific accusation against Germany or the finance minister of the time".
The indices on the confidence of consumers and of Italian manufacturing companies were down in February: the
the first fell to its lowest level since August 2017 and the second to its lowest level since August 2016.
BTP AUCTION OK, BUT THE SPREAD RISES AGAIN
Day of sales on bonds, in Europe and the United States. Ten-year Treasury Notes at 2,68% (+5 basis points). Even if the auction of the new ten-year bond went quite well, on the secondary market the ten-year BTP weakened to 2,79%, from 2,70% yesterday, as did the Bund, to 0,15%, from 0,12. 264% yesterday. The spread settled at 260 points from XNUMX.
In the morning the secondary had recovered in conjunction with the month-end auctions. The Treasury has assigned all the 7,25 billion euros offered in BTPs and CCTEUs, including the new 5-year bond, with rates however rising for the XNUMX-year bond to the highest since December and for the XNUMX-year bond since last November.
SUPERSTAR BANKS, INTESA PLACES A BOND
After months of hibernation, bank stocks have reawakened and are doing better than the rest of Europe: the sector index is up 2,3% against 1,4% for the European Stoxx.
Unicredit +2% and Intesa Sanpaolo +2,5% after placing a new guaranteed bond: maturity five years, amount one billion.
Bper Banca also did well (+2,7%), which today will announce staff cuts and branch closures. Better Banco Bpm (+4%).
The Minister of Economy, Giovanni Tria, in his hearing in the Senate said that he was in favor of repealing the regulations which call into question, in addition to the shareholders, also the subscribers of subordinated bonds and a certain class of current account holders, in the event of bankruptcy of banks (bail in).
The minister also spoke in favor of the fund for defrauded savers: he will be put in a position not to violate community rules.
CHEMCHINA SPINNING PIRELLI
Pirelli down by more than 4%. Bloomberg has revealed that controlling shareholder ChemChina is considering reducing its stake. Marco Tronchetti Provera called the rumors "pure speculation".
Fiat-Chrysler -0,7%. Donald Trump thanked the group with a tweet for the investment of 4,5 billion dollars in various plants in Michigan. Sales of Brembo also prevail (-2,5%).
Downhill Moncler (-2,2%): HSBC cuts Hold da Buy. Juventus drops by 3,01%. Stmicroelectronics also down (-2%). Leonardo unchanged.
FINCANTIERI GRANTS THE BIS, A NEW RECORD FOR TECHNOGYM
Fincantieri's rally continues, +6,9% after the accounts: Equita Sim raised the target price on the stock from 1,25 to 1,3 euros, confirming the hold recommendation.
Technogym +5,6% and new historic record. Citigroup initiates coverage with a Buy rating.
Ima (+3,9%) buys the controlling shares of Spreafico Automation and Tecmar, the total expenditure for the two acquisitions is 11 million euros. The preliminary contracts envisage the possibility for the buyer to go up to 100%.
