The European stock exchanges close with little movement and Wall Street proceeds uncertainly, awaiting the intervention of Jerome Powell at the Economic Club of Washington.
The Ftse Mib closes trading up 0.36% to 27,118 points. In the lead Saipem (+5.2%), supported by the rebound in oil, with Brent at 83 dollars a barrel, after Saudi Arabia unexpectedly increased crude oil prices in Asia, expressing confidence in the prospects on demand.
Also in evidence is Telecom Italia (+2.3%), awaiting developments on the single network front. With reference to the offer by the American fund KKR, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke of “a very complex dossier, which we are following very carefully and on a daily basis. Being a listed company, it is advisable to be very cautious. Soon I imagine we will have clear information to give”. Purchases also from Banco Bpm (+1.9%) and Hera (+1.8%), while Amplifon (-2.5%), Pirelli (-2.2%) and Interpump (-1.5%) are down ).
On bonds, the Btp-Bund spread showed little movement at 188 basis points (source Bloomberg) with the Italian ten-year yield rising to 4.18%, while on Forex the euro/dollar fell to the 1.07 area.
Focus of the day on Powell’s speech, which should once again distance the hypothesis of rate cuts in 2023. Meanwhile Raphael Bostic and Neel Kashkari, respectively of the Atlantia and Minneapolis Feds, used rather restrictive tones, supporting the thesis of new monetary tightening after the surprise of the job report on Friday. Kashkari in particular sees a terminal rate at 5.4%.
Also to be followed tonight is a speech by Joe Biden in a joint session of Congress, also in the light of renewed tensions with China.
Finally, it should be noted that the Australian central bank increased borrowing costs by 25 basis points today (ninth consecutive tightening) and indicated that further tightening may be needed.