The red wave hits European stock markets, which find no support on Wall Street, which is volatile at the start. Piazza Affari is the worst and loses 1,34%, falling to 19.475 points, weighed down by a series of important quarterly reports. Sales prevail in Frankfurt -0,52%; Paris -0,98%; Madrid -1,16%; London -1,23%. The euro weakens (1,185 against the dollar), oil is little moved, while the gold star continues to shine in the firmament of investment. With yields on US government bonds unattractive (the 0,530-year rate is down to 2020%) the hunger for the precious metal does not seem to be abating. The October 2.060 futures are at 2070 dollars an ounce, but have already reached a high in the session of XNUMX.
The Covid-19 epidemic continues to weigh like lead on market morale, which is also regaining strength in Europe, Germany yesterday exceeded the threshold of a thousand daily infections for the first time since the beginning of May. Partial consolation is some better-than-expected macro data. In Italy in particular, industrial production rose by 8,2% in June compared to May, almost double what analysts forecast (+5,1%). It is a figure that follows the exceptional one in May (+41,6%) after the collapse due to the lockdown. It is a growth that, according to Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri, creates the conditions for a "strong rebound" in GDP in the third quarter. Bonds benefited from this: the spread between Italian and German ten-year bonds fell to 146 basis points (-1,17) and the Btp limited the yield to 0,92%.
Uplifting job news comes from the United States where unemployment benefits fell by 249.000 in the week ended August XNUMX for the first time in three weeks. Better than estimates, which however is not giving a great boost to the stock market, also because, while negotiations continue on the approval of the new aid package, relations with China are once again deteriorating. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order today in Ohio requiring the US government to buy "essential" drugs from American companies and no longer from foreign countries, such as China, which is the largest supplier.
The drop in Piazza Affari fits into this context, which comes after three consecutive rising sessions. To ballast the price list there is, among others, Unicredit, -3,87%. The bank led by Jean Pierre Mustier presented a respectable quarterly report. In fact, in the April-June period it managed to return to profit, even if the balance sheet for the six-month period remains heavily negative. According to some observers, the reason for the decline must be sought in the fact that the CEO continues to reiterate that he does not intend to participate in any banking risk and excludes extraordinary transactions on the horizon. According to a trader, heard by Reuters instead, to bring down the shares "are not so much the results as the new press rumors that give the bank as a candidate to take over MPS". As far as the Sienese bank is concerned, the account for the second quarter is very bitter, given that it records a shock loss of 845 million which sweeps away the much more optimistic estimates of analysts.
The decision to write down deferred tax assets (dta) by 476 million would weigh heavily by virtue of the update of the multi-year internal estimates (2020-2024) of the economic and equity values to take into account the macro scenario after the pandemic. Monte Paschi, which was in marked progress until the disclosure of the quarterly data, closed up by 0,78% after a few slips. According to Il Sole 24 Ore, Siena would be working to issue a 2-300 million subordinated bond subscribed by the MEF to 'buffer' the ECB requests and thus allow the go-ahead for the sale of 8,1 billion in non-performing loans to Amco.
Banks protagonists for better or for worse. In fact, the queen of the Ftse Mib is Bper, +2,17%, which returned to the main basket yesterday. The Modenese bank closed the first half of the half-year with a net profit up 4,2% to 104,7 million, but revised downwards the targets of the business plan to 2021 in the light of the worsening of the macroeconomic scenario due to the impact of the Covid-19.
The few positive stocks are almost all financial: Banca Mediolanum +1,55%; Unipol +0,91. The accounts for the second quarter sink Tenaris -4,95% and Pirelli -4,76%. Weakness returns to oil stocks: Saipem -3,16%; Eni -1,9%. Outside the main basket, Creval leaps, +4,73%, after the announcement of the half-yearly higher than expected and the sale of a package of NPLs. Rome down, -3,95%, with the announcement of change of ownership.
