Step back 0.12%
The session ended slightly down for Piazza Affari, with the Ftse Mib losing 0.12% to 26,523.33 points. The intraday low reached 26,439.12 points. Madrid finished in the red by 0.3%. when Paris (+0.26% the Cac40) and Frankfurt (+0.14% the Dax40) remained above parity with Amsterdam in the pink jersey (+0.76% the Aex). The market certainly expects a slowdown in the monetary policy tightening by the US central bank, despite inflation still not under control, in the light of the banking crisis and the consequent turbulence: futures on Fed Funds consider it probable at 86.4 % up 25 basis points, while maintaining the status quo is quoted at 13.6%.
Inflexible Lagarde
Meanwhile, Christine Lagarde, president of the ECB, said she was inflexible in pursuing the objective of lowering inflation: «We will achieve price stability and we will not compromise on our commitment to bring inflation back to 2% in the medium term. To this end, we will follow a solid strategy, which is based on data and sees us ready to act, but without compromising on our primary objective». Fabio Panetta, member of the executive board of the ECB, added that monetary policy must remain “adaptable to changing developments” and restrictive interventions “must be calibrated with prudence because they are already having a strong impact on financing conditions and we want to avoid a unwanted financial volatility. In this context, the sectors that performed best in Europe were those of retail sales and food, when in Piazza Affari, sales concentrated on managed savings, banks and part of the utility sector.