Markets recovered partially after last Friday’s violent sell-off. A cautious optimism is reported by the hope that the new Omicron variant is characterized by milder symptoms, even if the global alert has entailed harsh countermeasures by some countries. Japan and Israel in particular have blocked all foreign visitors from entering the country.
WHO says the Delta variant is still the priority despite growing concerns about Omicron’s new Covid strain. WHO explains that so far no deaths are related to the Omicron variant
We will have to wait about two weeks to be more certain about the effectiveness of vaccines on the new Omicron variant. “We have to monitor the fear of the virus to understand its economic consequences. Government travel restrictions are the official fear, but evidence so far suggests that consumers are less afraid (perhaps encouraged by reports of mild symptoms), “he argues. Paul Donovan, chief economist of UBS’s Wealth Management division.
The Ftse Mib index thus closed trading at + 0.73% at 26,041 points. In the spotlight even today Telecom Italia (-1.96% at € 0.471) which reacted badly on the stock market to what emerged from the extraordinary board of directors on Friday. The Italian TLC has accepted the decision of CEO Luigi Gubitosi to hand over the powers to the board. Pietro Labriola, CEO of TIM Brasil, has been appointed general manager. The president Salvatore Rossi will have the responsibilities and powers relating to Partnership & Alliances, Institutional Communications, Sustainability Projects & Sponsorship, Public Affairs, as well as the responsibility of managing Tim’s assets and activities of strategic importance for the national defense and security system.
Among the banks, Intesa lagged behind (-0.63%).
ENI (+ 2.34% to 11.8 euros) led the rise in oil stocks in the wake of the rebound in oil after the 13% collapse on Friday. L’OPEC+ it will meet on Thursday to decide whether to adjust its plan to increase production by 400,000 barrels per day since January. OPEC + could consider suspending the increase in production in response to the spread of Omicron.
An increase of over 1% in the 5 euro area for Snam which presented the new 2021-2025 plan with a vision to 2030 which envisages investments increasing to 8.1 billion (+700 million compared to the previous plan) and + 4.5% annual average EBITDA.
Little move Stellantis (+ 0.01%) which announced an agreement with Vulcan Energy for the supply in Europe of lithium hydroxide for batteries, to be used in electrified vehicles of the Stellantis Group. The five-year agreement provides for the start of shipments in 2026. Today Citi has restarted coverage on Stellantis with buy and tp at 23 euros.
Finally, Diasorin (-1.17%) was in trouble today, having distinguished itself on Friday on the emergence of concerns about the Omicron variant. DiaSorin announced today that it has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to use the LIAISON® QuantiFERON®-TB Gold Plus test, developed in collaboration with Qiagen, for the identification of latent tuberculosis infections on the fully automated platform LIAISON® XS in the United States. The test had already received FDA approval in 2019 for use on the LIAISON XL platform.