US economic data relaunch the Asian markets. Tokyo is starting to close with a gain of more than 2%, while Hong Kong is also on the rise. Prada still down -0,85% after Thursday's landslide (-6%). Shanghai is also on positive ground, despite the flop (the first after 23 months) of the auction of Chinese securities: only 9,5 billion yuan subscribed out of 15 offered. It is a reflection of the credit crunch of Chinese banks.
The engine of the increases has been Wall Street, which has grown strongly in the last few stages. At the end of the session, the Dow Jones .DJI rose by 1,21%, the Standard & Poor's by 1,48%. And the Nasdaq closes at +1,32. For once, it seems, the credit for the bull market goes to a journalist.
Joe Hilsenrath's name doesn't mean much to Italian traders or commentators. But Hilsenrath has earned the coveted Wall Street reputation of being the Fed's covert mouthpiece, an unusually well-informed informal tissue. Hence the attention paid to his latest article, released yesterday a few hours before closing, entitled "It is probable that the Fed will deny expectations of a forthcoming rate hike". According to the author, in next Thursday's press conference after the meeting of the monetary committee, Bernanke will reiterate emphatically "that a considerable amount of time will have to pass between the reduction of QE purchases and a possible increase in short-term rates".
Rumors aside, the recovery in stock prices can be explained by the jump in retail sales and the drop in weekly jobless claims have woken up Wall Street. The US stock market is starting to convince itself that the recovery has really started. To the point that, after so many mortifications, it is the publishing sector that is moving. In fact, the star of the day is the publishing group Gannett (USA Today) +34% after buying the Texan Belo Corporation for 1,5 billion dollars +24%, an extraordinary network of local newspapers and websites.
HOLDS THE TREASURE DAM, EUROPE'S LEADING BUSINESS PLACE
The FtseMib index closed up 0,5%, the best stock exchange in Europe. London finished tied, Paris +0,1%, Frankfurt -0,5%. In London, the 3,26% drop recorded by the Royal Bank of Scotland should be noted in the aftermath of the announcement of the resignation of CEO Stephen Hester. The bank has also announced new cost containment measures which provide for 2000 cuts within 18 months, bringing the total number of layoffs made so far since 2008 to 41.
Instead, Rio Tinto (+2,5%) and Vedanta Resources (+3,1%) did well in the commodities sector. Lvmh in difficulty in Paris (-1,33%), hit by the risk of a slowdown in purchases from China. Italy managed to place all the BOTs and BTPs on the agenda without suffering excessive repercussions. Yesterday morning the Treasury placed 3,4 billion 3-year BTPs at a yield of 2,38%, up 0,46 percentage points from the previous auction. The most positive news came for the longest 15-year maturity, where all 1,5 billion Btp 2028 were placed at 4,67%, with a very slight drop in yield.
BANKS TO THE RESCUE. 30% DISCOUNT FOR THE RCS INCREASE
Hot appointment today in Collecchio for the Parmalat shareholders' meeting +3,3%, also called to approve changes in the board of statutory auditors. After a few high-voltage sessions, the bankers were able to free the reins after the auction of government bonds. Particularly good is Bpm +4,71, Bper +2,41%, Banco Popolare +1,68%, Intesa Sanpaolo +2,56%, Mediobanca +2,90%, Ubi Banca +2,09%. Unicredit (+2,50%). Financial News writes that the German subsidiary HVB has put its private equity assets up for sale: three operators in the sector, including Axa Private Equity, are competing for them. The newspaper reports that the investment portfolio and the management structure should be worth around 600 million euros.
In contrast, only Mps which lost 0,85%. The Board of Directors of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena has convened the extraordinary and ordinary shareholders' meeting for 18 and 19 July. In the extraordinary part of the agenda, the proposal to amend the bank's Articles of Association will be submitted to the shareholders' meeting, which concerns the elimination of the limit on share ownership of 4 per cent. In the ordinary part, the agenda concerns the provisions on the suspension of director Michele Briamonte declared by the board of directors in the meeting of 28 May and the appointment of an alternate auditor to replace the alternate auditor Gianni Tarozzi, who resigned last May.
Fondiaria Sai also performed well, gaining 4,06% continuing to benefit from the rumors about Warren Buffett's interest in its subsidiary Milano Assicurazioni. Fiat +0,8%: Moody's confirms Chrysler's B1 rating. The outlook remains stable. "Moody's upholds ratings on Chrysler Group LLC in connection with the company's proposed re-price and renegotiation of its $3 billion loan and $1,3 billion revolving loan," Moody's said in a statement.
At the end of a session conditioned by losses in Asia, luxury stocks recorded a strong recovery in the last few minutes: Luxottica closed down by 0,3%, Ferragamo -0,6%, Tod's -0,4%. Yesterday morning, in Hong Kong, Prada had experienced a 6% drop. With a leap towards the end of the session, Safilo closed up by 3,2% at 15,74 euros (a low in the morning at 14,82 euros). After the exclusive deal with Fendi, the group yesterday announced the early renewal of the Marc Jacobs and Marc by Marc Jacobs licenses. At the beginning of the year, the performance was +131%. Telecom Italia +0,5% recovers from the lows. Buzzi is the worst blue chip with a 2,7% decline. Among the small caps, RCS soars +12.69% on the day of the meeting of the board of directors which set the terms of the capital increase which will start on 17 June and end on 5 July.
The operation will be for a maximum of 421 million: 400 through the issue of ordinary shares at a price of 1,235 euro in the ratio of 3 new shares per share already held. The discount on the Terp (the theoretical ex-right price) is 30% on the average price recorded between 11 and 13 June. Savings shares will be issued for 2 million, with the same characteristics as ordinary shares. Diego Della Valle confirmed his opposition via press release: “I reiterate the entire critical line held up to now and complain that no convincing response has been given to the problems raised by me in recent months and summarized in the speech by the lawyer. Heir to the RCS assembly of 30 May”.
