The stock exchanges of the Old Continent are in sharp decline in the wake of concerns about the spread of Covid-19 arriving from China and after the sharp decline in the last session marked by the Federal Reserve’s desire to accelerate the squeeze on interest rates. In Beijing there was a surge in cases, as had happened in Shanghai, with the fear of new lockdowns, with consequent repercussions on global demand, including for raw materials, and this affects the price of oil, with the WTI falling below the 100 dollars a barrel.
In Piazza Affari, which is just back from the confirmation of the rating by S&P (the agency reiterated the “BBB” rating, with a positive outlook), the FTSE MIB is in sharp decline. The CAC 40 in Paris was also down, following the confirmation of the outgoing president Emmanuel Macron, who got the better of the challenger Marine Le Pen. Concerns continue to weigh on the war in Ukraine, which does not seem to be moving towards a quick solution. The euro slips below $ 1.08 and changes hands at 1.0733.
Focus on quarterly reports: from Vivendi to Roche
The French media group Vivendi achieved sales of € 2.38 billion in the first quarter, up 7.9% on the previous year at constant exchange rates and excluding acquisitions. This was announced by the company which in the same period of 2021 had recorded sales of 2.1 billion. The Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche closed the first quarter of 2022 with sales up 10% to 16.44 billion Swiss francs. In the same period of 2021 it had achieved sales of 14.93 billion Swiss francs in the period of the previous year. The Dutch high-tech group Philips achieved a profit of 243 million euros in the first quarter of 2022, down by 30%
compared to the same period in 2021, the remainder of 2022 Philips expects sales and profitability to resume, provided the current problems do not get worse.
Macro confirmed at the Elysée, gets 58.55% in the second round
Emmanuel Macron has been confirmed at the helm of the French Republic for the next five years. This is the result of the second round of the presidential elections that took place yesterday in France in which the outgoing president clearly defeated Marine Le Pen in the ballot. According to the final figures released by the French Ministry of the Interior, Macron obtained 18.7 million votes, 58.55% of those cast. The votes collected by challenger Marine Le Pen were instead 13.3 million, equal to 41.45% of the votes. 28.01% of the French with the right to vote abstained.
Tokyo stock market closes -1.9%, Chinese lists down 3%
Closing down sharply for the Tokyo Stock Exchange which was affected by the sharp correction of the US markets last Friday after the speech by Fed President Jerome Powell. At the end of the session, the Nikkei Index recorded a drop of 1.9%, at 26,590.78 points, the result of widespread sales in all equity sectors. The Chinese lists are very heavy, losing more than 3%.