Caution prevailed on the Milan Stock Exchange, which after a moderately upward start has progressively slowed down, moving above and below parity and then closing flat. The enthusiasm for the recovery, triggered by the final approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, so far used thanks to an emergency approval, has given way to caution ahead of the Jackson symposium Hole, during which the intervention of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is expected on Friday. In the last few hours, the feeling is prevailing among operators that Powell will hardly indicate on this occasion a timetable for the reduction of monetary support from the Fed, and in particular the reduction in asset purchases (the so-called tapering).
In this context, the Ftse Mib index of the Milan stock exchange ended the session with a weak -0.07%, remaining on the threshold of 26,000 points (at 26,027.91 points to be precise). Among the securities in the main basket, Leonardo stood out from the very first trades, ending with a + 2.8% within a whisker of 7 euros (at 6.96 euros). The latest news supports the purchases on the Defense group. First of all, the partnership agreement signed yesterday with Northrop Grumman for a five-year supply to the United States Army. Also yesterday, Leonardo announced the start of the second OCEAN2020 maritime surveillance trial, the largest European military research project for maritime security. The title could also be influenced by the press indiscretion according to which Fincantieri would be interested in acquiring the perimeter of the former Oto Melara, now controlled by Leonardo and merged into the Defense Systems division in 2016. The negotiation would be at an early stage and a possible offer it could arrive by the end of the year.
Oil was doing well, with Saipem leading the sector’s increases with + 0.9%, taking advantage of the rise in oil prices encouraged by the hopes of more extensive vaccination in the US after the definitive approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (the go-ahead free definitive paves the way for the dissemination of mandatory vaccination for employees of public institutions, agencies and educational institutions in the US).
In the spotlight was Stellantis (+ 0.26%) which announced a joint venture agreement with Foxconn for the development of the intelligent cabin. Mobile Drive, the joint venture company, will focus on providing an intelligent vehicle cabin solution that will revolutionize current design conventions and drive the development of connected intelligent vehicles.
Among the negative signs, the worst stock in the basket was Amplifon which lost almost 2 percentage points (-1.94%). After a positive start, Moncler returned to decline (-1.33%), together with A2a (-1.82%).