A fluctuating day for Piazza Affari which in the end tore the plus sign in the wake of the positivity of Wall Street. The Ftse Mib scores at the end of the session + 0.31% at 23,499 points. There are many hot topics today awaiting the Fed announcement tomorrow, which barring surprises will lead to the first rate hike since 2018. Meanwhile, investors are looking with concern at the growing US-China tensions on aid to Russia as well as at the sharp increase in infections from COVID-19 in China, with new cases more than doubling due to the rapid expansion of the virus outbreak in the country’s northeast. Local lockdowns mainly impacted oil sentiment, with WTI and Brent falling sharply again today and prices slipping to two-week lows.
Among the individual stocks in trouble, the oil stocks (-3.3% Tenaris, -0.42% ENI) in light of the movement of WTI and Brent which came to sell over 8% during the session. Leonardo did well (+ 1.65%) who announced the signing of a contract for two AW139 helicopters for the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
Also in light Generali (+ 1.5% to € 17.91) which reported a record consolidated operating result of € 5.852 billion in 2021, + 12.4% compared to 2020 and beyond expectations (consensus was 5.69 billions). Net profit increased by 63.3% to 2,847 million euros. A dividend of € 1.07 per share will be proposed at the shareholders’ meeting at the end of April, to be paid on 25 May.
Finally, Unicredit is worth mentioning among the banks (+ 0.81% to € 9.63) with CEO Orcel admitting that the bank could decide to withdraw from Russia. “We are considering the option of exiting, but obviously we must find a balance between the complexity and the consequences of the activities” we manage in the country “, the banker specified. On dividends, Orcel said he was confident:” I think we will be able to achieve target, but it depends on the economic context “.