Mostly positive ending for the main European stock exchanges, including Piazza Affari with the Ftse Mib up 0.45% to 27,949 points.
Purchases in particular on Telecom Italia (+3.1%) after the offer by Cdp and Macquarie for the network, valid until 31 March and an improvement on that of the KKR fund. According to rumors, the proposal would value MetCo 18 billion, with approximately 2-2.5 billion in terms of effective cash and therefore available for the reduction of Tim’s debt.
Money also on Banco Bpm (+2.3%), Bper (+2%) and Poste Italiane (+1.8%). Realizations on Amplifon (-2.2%) after Friday’s earnings. Down was Saipem (-1.5%) and Finecobank (-1.5%), which released February collection data.
Bond yields are still on the rise after the surge of the last eighth year, with the Btp-Bund spread around 181 basis points and the Italian 10-year bond at 4.55%. Meanwhile, the placement of the nineteenth issue of the BTP Italia has begun, the government bond indexed to the national inflation rate with a minimum provisional coupon of 2% paid every six months.
On Forex, the euro/dollar exchange rate appreciates at 1.068 while among raw materials, oil (Brent) remains above 85 dollars a barrel.
Scarce day of macro appointments. January data on retail sales from the euro zone recorded a 0.3% month-on-month increase, lower than the 0.6% expected by analysts. A modest increase that suggests a weak start to the year for consumption, due to high prices. In addition, the Sentix Index measuring investor confidence in the eurozone unexpectedly fell from -8 to -11.1 points in March, dragged down by lower expectations on fears that the spring economic recovery will short term.
Tomorrow and the day after, attention will shift to Jerome Powell’s hearing in the US Congress, while the February job report will be released on Friday. From these appointments useful information will emerge for understanding the next moves of the central banks, after the upward adjustment of interest rate expectations in recent weeks.