(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) – The intervention of the Chinese central bank has support for economic growth and the reassuring statements of the scientific community on the symptoms related to the Omicron variant of Covid support the European stock markets, which consolidate the positions conquered yesterday and score new increases. Investors particularly welcome the People’s bank of China’s decision to cut the required reserve rate for banks by half a point, effectively “freeing up” 1.2 trillion yuan ($ 188 billion) for possible investments. Beijing is thus also aiming to support the real estate sector put under pressure by the Evergrande collapse. Premier Li Keqiang also stressed that there is room for recourse to a range of monetary policy tools. Across Europe, the technology sector rebounds after recent declines, also supported by Intel’s intention to list its subsidiary Mobileye.
The Piazza Affari FTSE MIB thus gains ground driven by Pirelli & C and Stmicroelectronics. Eyes on Stellantis, which has announced the new tech strategy from which it aims to obtain 20 billion annual revenues by 2030.
In Germany, the Zew index falls less than expected
On the macroeconomic front, in Germany the Zew index on economic expectations fell to 29.9 points in December from 31.7 in November. However, the figure is better than analysts’ expectations, who expected a drop to 25 points. Furthermore, the current conditions index decreased to -7.4 points from 12.5 in November. Also in Germany, industrial production increased by 2.8% cyclically in October, according to the seasonally adjusted index, and decreased by 0.6% on a year-to-year basis, according to provisional data released by the Destatis statistics office. Compared to February 2020, the month before the restrictions caused by the pandemic in Germany, production is still 6.5% lower in seasonally adjusted terms.
In the entire Eurozone, then, GDP grew by 2.2% in the third quarter after + 2.2% in the second. In the EU, the figure is + 2.1%. Compared to a year earlier, GDP increased by 3.9% in the Eurozone and by + 4.1% in the EU. The employment rate increased by 0.9% in the two areas compared to the second quarter after + 0.8% between April and June. (+ 2.1% and + 2% on an annual basis).
Focus on Stellantis after tech strategy announcement and agreement with Foxconn
As for Stellantis, the group expects to achieve approximately 4 billion in annual turnover by 2026 and around 20 billion euros by 2030 “generated by offers of products enabled for software and subscriptions”. The software strategy for the use of next-generation technology platforms foresees the investment of more than 30 billion by 2025 to carry out its transformation in software and electrification. “Our electrification and software strategies will support the transformation to become a sustainable mobility technology company, leveraging business growth associated with over-the-air functionality and services and delivering the best experience to our customers,” commented the a .d. Carlos Tavares. Stellantis then announced an agreement with Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) to form a partnership with the intent of designing a family of semiconductors built specifically to support the group and third-party customers.