The Milan Stock Exchange closed this last weekly session with a plus sign, after the recent uncertainty, doing better than the other lists in Europe. A good intonation from Wall Street in the wake of the words of Fed chairman Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium bolstered the trade. In his speech, Powell kept the hawks at bay, stating that tapering, or reducing asset purchases, will not imply an immediate rate hike.
In this context, the Ftse Mib index, which started on parity, closed with an increase of 0.56% at 26,006.63 points. Among the stocks in the main basket, purchases were concentrated for most of the session on Tenaris (+ 1.6%). Its advance, as well as that of Eni (+ 1.2%), reflected the increase in oil prices, on the fears of the approaching tropical storm Ida in the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, several oil companies have begun to evacuate the offshore platforms located off the Gulf in view of the arrival of the hurricane over the weekend. Tropical storm Ida, which hit the Caribbean coast, is expected to pass through the Gulf’s main oil-producing region on Friday.
But the stock in Piazza Affari’s top basket that did best was STMicroelectronics (+ 2.1%), following the Wall Street Journal’s indiscretion that chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will raise prices. between 10% and 20% effective between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. If confirmed, the increase will have the effect of a cascading price increase from TSMC’s customers which include the majority of global semiconductor companies, such as Infineon and STMicroelectronics, as well as some major device manufacturers, such as Apple. And this could also translate into an increase in margins.
Among the banks, Banco Bpm and Bper did well and advanced by 1.7% and 1.6% respectively, while Unicredit flat. Utilities are still weak with Italgas which fell to the bottom of the Ftse Mib list with a drop of 0.5%.
Among other stories, Brunello Cucinelli collected a substantial + 3.3% after the publication of the half-yearly accounts and the confirmation of a positive outlook, while Cerved rose by XX% following the upward revision of the Castor takeover bid price. Bidco at € 10.2 per share.