Upside session for Piazza Affari and the other European stock exchanges, while Wall Street continues mixed after a series of macro data in chiaroscuro and awaiting the intervention of Jerome Powell.
The Ftse Mib closes trades up by 0.6% to 24,610 points, with purchases in particular on Banca Mediolanum (+%), Moncler (+2.2%), Finecobank (+2.1%) and Tenaris (+ 2%). Telecom Italia fell sharply (-5.2%) after the words of the undersecretary of the Prime Minister with responsibility for the telecommunications, Alessio Butti, who ruled out the hypothesis of a total takeover bid on Tim by the government. Positive Eni (+0.9%), which is said to be negotiating the acquisition of the gas and oil producer Neptune Energy for about 5-6 billion dollars.
This evening, the spotlight will be on the Fed chairman, who should reiterate the need to further raise rates to effectively fight inflation. Traders will be on the lookout for any signs that may indicate a slowdown in the pace of monetary tightening.
During the day, third-quarter US GDP was revised upwards from +2.6% to 2.9%, while the core component of the personal consumer price index (PCE – the Fed’s preferred parameter for monitoring the trend inflation) has been revised upwards to +4.6%, from +4.5% initially reported.
The ADP employment data, however, showed the creation of 127,000 new jobs in the private sector, well below the 200,000 of the Bloomberg consensus and the 239,000 jobs created in the previous month.
Any confirmation of a slowdown in the US labor market in Friday’s job report could bolster expectations for a less hawkish monetary policy from the Fed, even if core inflation remains elevated. The US central bank could decide to raise rates by half a percentage point at its meeting on December 13-14, after four consecutive interventions of 75 basis points each.
As far as the Eurozone is concerned, in November the consumer price index slowed to 10.0% per annum, compared to 10.6% in October and the 10.4% expected by analysts. Core inflation, excluding the more volatile components, remained stable at 5%.
In light of today’s inflation report, the Eurotower may consider a 50 basis point rate hike at its next meeting on Dec. 15, following two consecutive 75 basis point hikes in previous meetings.
Finally, in Italy, the rate of growth in prices remains at its highest level since 1984 (+11.8% on an annual basis), while the GDP confirms the cyclical growth of 0.5% in the third quarter (+2.6% yoy) .