The attack on Syria is fading over time, crude oil prices are deflating. WTI-type oil traded at $106,7 a barrel, down 0,8%, for the third consecutive day of declines. Brent is on parity at 114 dollars.
The European stock exchanges started September well, posting a large rise: Piazza Affari (+1,8% at the close), Frankfurt (+1,6%, Paris (+1,6%), London (+1,5% ) and Madrid (+1,4%).
The propensity for risk rises and assets considered safe havens fall, the yield on the Bund rises by 5 basis points to 1,91%. The BTP strengthens and its yield drops by 4 basis points to 4,35%: the Italy-Germany spread, on the 10-year maturity, falls to 244 basis points (-9 basis points).
AFTER MANUFACTURING, SPEAK TO THE GOVERNORS
The industry restarts. And the Stock Exchanges, having set aside worries about tapering for a day, have picked up speed. Markit's PMI index on eurozone manufacturing industry rose to 51,4 from 50,3 in July, the strongest month-on-month increase since June 2011. Supporting the increase for once was also Italy, the PMI/Markit index for Italy rose to 51,3 from 50,4 in July, slightly better than the average estimate gathered by Reuters of 51,0.
Now the focus shifts back to central banks. Tomorrow the attention will be focused on the Fed's Beige Book, Thursday it will be the turn of the heads of the Boe and the ECB. Grand finale on Friday with the US unemployment rate, a key figure for the monetary policy decisions of the American Central Bank.
84 BILLION TO VODAFONE MEMBERS. AND TELECOM SALES
It was tcl day. Verizon Communications and Vodafone (+3,2%) have officially announced that they have reached a definitive agreement under which the American group will acquire the 45% stake held by its British ally in the Verizon Wireless joint venture for 130 billion dollars. Verizon will pay the stake purchase with $60 billion in cash and an additional $60 billion in stock. An additional $10 billion will be paid through asset swaps. Vodafone, according to analysts' estimates, intends to return $84 billion to shareholders.
Telecom Italia rose by 3,4%, on Friday it closed up by more than 9% due to rumors about the arrival of an offer from one of the telephony giants that are moving around the world in search of bargains. Goldman Sachs has raised its rating on European telecommunications to "neutral" from "cautious".
NOMURA AND UBS RECOMMEND BUY ITALIA …
UBS upgraded its Continental Europe (excluding UK) equity segment to overweight. In Italy, UBS identifies Mediobanca, Intesa and Unicredit among the financial companies as buying opportunities. Among the energy companies Snam, Terna, Enel and Eni, as well as Atlantia.
Nomura analysts advised buying German and Italian stocks and selling Swiss equity. Switzerland is second among the twelve most expensive stock markets and Germany is fifth among the cheapest stock exchanges, just after France.
“Italy is the least expensive of the main countries in terms of price/book and enterprise value compared to capital employed,” the experts explained. The relatively high betas of Germany and Italy, which translate into a tendency to amplify market movements, should trigger a virtuous mechanism if European equities are to rise in the coming months, while the low beta should weigh on Switzerland's performance.
FIAT, LUXURY AND THE REST
Fiat closed up 1,8% before the August registrations data: 52.997 vehicles, down 6,56% compared to the same period in 2012. The Lingotto registered an annual decline of 6,1%, a 15.711 vehicles. The market share of the Lingotto stands at 29,6% from 29,2 in July.
The banks ran. JP Morgan confirmed its positive opinion on European banks. Intesa Sanpaolo +3,4%, Unicredit +2,7%, Banco Popolare +2,2%, Mediobanca +2,2%, Ubi Banca +0,3%. Positive insurance and financial companies: Generali +1,3% Fondiaria Sai +2,2%. Azimut +2,5%, Unipol +2.8% Eni +1,3%, Enel +1,8%. Snam+0,8%. Exane Bnp Paribas raised the recommendation to "outperform" from "neutral".
Always highlight the luxury. Tod's gained 2,5%. HSBC raised its target price to 160 euros from 135 euros, Ferragamo 2,7%, Yoox 2,5% and Aeffe 10% with record volumes.
