One by one, Donald Trump's Praetorians surrender. Attorney General Barr also admitted yesterday that there is no evidence of electoral fraud, while Rudy Giuliani, the president's lawyer, is already working according to the New York Times to grant him immunity. Against this backdrop, the nos to fiscal stimuli hitherto held back by the Republicans fall: the bipartisan group of senators has proposed a package of 908 billion in line with what was requested by Fed president Jerome Powell and by Janet Yellen, next head of the Treasury, who declares : "We are in the presence of a historic crisis and it is necessary to act urgently".
Thus falls one of the few obstacles for Taurus, still in the running after the brilliant start to December. Meanwhile, the rally in shares, from Wall Street to China, is putting pressure on the dollar (traded this morning at 1,207 against the euro) and bonds, whose rise sounds like the first alarm bell for inflation. But, at least for now, the markets don't care. The OECD's warning weighs more: the Economic Outlook sees the global economy contracting by 2020% for 4,2 and warns that significant "uncertainty about the near future" remains, urging politicians from all over the world to " maintain targeted support for particularly vulnerable sectors and categories”.
EVEN KOREA TOUCHES A NEW RECORD
This morning in Asia the Kospi of Seoul rises again (+1,5%, to its all-time high). China's stock markets are at parity, with Tokyo's Nikkei up slightly and Mumbai's BSE Sensex down by 0,4%.
Wall Street futures retreat slightly following the record of the S&P500 (+1,1%) and Nasdaq (+1,3%). Treasury yields rose sharply to 0,91%.
SALESFORCE BUYS SLACK FOR $27 BILLION
Yesterday in the evening came the announcement of the change of ownership of Slack, a communication app widely used in the corporate sphere: to buy it, paying a 55% premium on the closing prices, is SalesForce, the management software giant of sales. The price is $27,7 billion, paid in cash and card. Favored by the massive use of working from home, Slack has reached 12 million active users on a daily basis, a figure that has made it attractive in the eyes of many: it seems that others have also targeted it.
Oil down in the face of the difficulty of an agreement in OPEC+, but also due to the effect of the first indications on the trend of crude oil inventories in the United States: the American Petroleum Institute consultancy company would expect an increase of 4,2 million barrels .
Copper is on the rise: it is the signal, says Goldman Sachs, of a rally in the industry.
BERLUSCONI'S FACE ON THE MES
Italy will take care of moving the European framework, pending Brexit: Silvio Berlusconi has made it known that Forza Italia will not support the reform of the Mes and the Azzurri parliamentarians, displaced by the choice in line with the League, ask for immediate clarification from the two group leaders. The leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, warned: "If any member of the opposition supports the reform, he ends up being a fellow traveler of the League."
SCHNABEL (ECB): WE COULD DISAPPOINT THE MARKETS
In anticipation of the next meeting of the European Central Bank, Isabel Schnabel, a German member of the directorate, puts her hands forward: the ECB must maintain the current conditions, not loosen them. "If it is necessary to do something that disappoints the market's expectations - she specified - we will do it". A cold shower for traders, convinced that the central bank will increase stimulus next week.
BUT THE LARGE INVESTORS WILL BE SPEAKED BY THE COLOMB LANE
For now, the distance between hawks and doves is increasing, with the result that it is more difficult to grasp Frankfurt's messages. To avoid misunderstandings and misunderstandings, the ECB has got into the habit of calling the big banks and big investors through its chief economist Philip Lane, to "explain" the monetary policy decisions in a personalized way. The novelty was introduced in March after the gaffe of the president of the Central Bank ("variations in the spread are not within our competence", said Lagarde at his debut press conference) and other communication errors, albeit less serious ones. Hence the break with the central bank's neutrality, jealously respected by Mario Draghi, who, moreover, knew how to make himself understood (for what he wanted). The gossip, relaunched by Wall Street Journal two days after the directorate, it is proof of the caution (or insecurity) of the Bank's top management at a particular moment: the euro is sailing towards its maximum, the economy does not take off, the risk of disappointing the markets rises.
UNICREDIT BREAKS MILAN, LONDON GETTING STOCKS BEFORE BREXIT
Sales on Unicredit (-8,02%) hold back Piazza Affari, which limits the increase to 0,18% to 22.099.
Manufacturing activity in Italy grew for the fifth month in a row in November, but at a slower pace than the previous month, weighed down by the restrictions introduced to contain the coronavirus. The PMI index elaborated by IHS Markit stood at 51,5 from 53,8 in October.
On the other markets, however, the bull run has resumed at full speed. London closes with a leap of 1,91%. Britain's PMI rose to 55,6 in November, the highest level in 35 months. The explanation also lies in the farewell to the EU. According to IHS Markit's Chris Williamson, “the end of the Brexit transition period has led to rising levels of commodity buying, commodity stockpiling and higher gains in new export business as EU-based customers have advance orders".
VOLKSWAGEN, TUNE BETWEEN DIESS AND THE UNION
Good for Paris (+1,14%); slightly behind Madrid (+0,76%) and Frankfurt (+0,76%). Today it will be hot at the Volkswagen council. CEO Herbert Diess is willing to ask for the early renewal of his mandate, which will expire in 2023, to strengthen the position of his staff within the group. Diess, strategist of the rapid transition to electric, is contested by a part of the management and in particular by Berndt Osterloh, the strong man of the union.
Yesterday the downpour of sales on the bond markets triggered by the return of the risk appetite acted as a counterweight to the race in share price lists. The ten-year rate rises to 0,64% from 0,58% at the last closing, with a maximum of 0,65%, the highest in over 10 days, while the yield on the equivalent Bund reaches -0,53% . The spread between the two rates on the 10-year segment shows only a slight rise to 117 basis points, from 116.
THE RELEASE OF MUSTIER COSTS 2,5 BILLION IN TWO DAYS
The day was dominated by the turnaround announced in Unicredit, which yesterday left 1,5 billion in capitalization on the ground (plus another billion on Monday). Chief Executive Officer Jean Pierre Mustier will resign at the end of his mandate in April 2021, after a clash with the Bank's board of directors over strategies, starting with the merger with Banca Monte Paschi (+3%), which appears today l most probable outcome.
Citigroup downgraded the stock to neutral from buy. "The step back could increase the uncertainty about the group's strategy," underlined the American investment bank. Fidentiis also downgraded the stock to neutral; Mediobanca from neutral to underperform. The Bank has appointed Adeline De Metz as head of group regulatory affairs. Many are the names of Mustier's possible successors, including the former CEO of UBI Victor Massiah, Alberto Nagel, Giuseppe Castagna or Marina Natale of Amco, as well as various internal candidates.
MPS RISES IN VIEW OF THE MERGER
For its part, Banca Mps rises by 3%. CEO Guido Bastianini proposed to the Mef, the Bank's main shareholder, a plan to allow the institution to stand alone on the market beyond the deadline of 31 December 2021, indicated by Europe for privatisation. The plan provides for 3 thousand redundancies, less than the 6-7 thousand assumed in a merger with UniCredit.
The rest of the banking sector performed well: Intesa San Paolo +2,68%, Mediobanca +1,45%, Bper +1,43%, Banco Bpm +1,38%.
MUSK PUSHES STM INTO ORBIT
Best performance of the day on the Piazza Affari stock exchange for the Stm share, which closed the session with a gain of 4,5%, at 34,35 euros. The stock of the company active in the production of semiconductor electronic components continues the excellent performance of November, which saw it gain more than 30%. STM recently signed a $2,4 billion contract with Space X, Musk's aerospace company, the great protagonist of the new space race, and this element is certainly pushing the stock up.
ATLANTIA +2,7%, AGREEMENT WITH CDP POSTED TO 15
Atlantic +2,7%. The subsidiary Autostrade per l'Italia (Aspi) has chosen a group of companies led by the engineering company Proger for the surveillance of all 4.500 network infrastructures, allocating 67,5 million euros to monitoring activities over the next 5 years. The new deadline for the presentation of a final offer for ASPI by CDP, Blackstone and Macquarie could be day 15.
Fiat Chrysler did well (+1,3%). Despite a sharp decline for the entire Italian four-wheeler market (-8,3% in November), the group recorded a slight growth in registrations during the penultimate month of 2020, a very difficult year for the automotive market.
Time +0,5%. The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund is negotiating with the Kkr and the Italian government an investment in the last mile of Telecom Italia's fixed network, according to three sources close to the situation.
MOODY'S PROMOTES NEXI, RUNS SESA
Nexi -1%. Moody's raised its outlook on the company's creditworthiness following the announcement of the signing of a framework agreement for the acquisition of Nets, confirming the credit family rating at Ba3. At the same time, Moody's put the Nets' rating under analysis for a possible improvement after the announcement of the possible combination with Nexi.
Among the mid caps, Sesa shines (+5,36%): Equita has started hedging with a buy rating and a target price of 110 euro. Esprinet rallied (+7,07%), after the company entered into a binding agreement for the purchase of 100% of Dacom's share capital.
