A slow session for European stock markets, with Paris bringing up the rear, held back by luxury. On Piazza Affari, Ftse Mib showed little change (+0.1%) at 34,293 points, with Terna (+3.6%) in the spotlight after the new strategic plan, followed by Telecom Italia (+1.9%) and Prysmian ( +1.4%). Poste Italiane, on the other hand, fell (-3.9%) after the 2024-28 plan, as did Diasorin (-3%).
Focus on central banks, awaiting the decisions of the Federal Reserve and the conference of President Jerome Powell. The FOMC will leave financing costs unchanged, but will release officials’ updated projections on rates (the so-called dot-plot) and could announce news on the budget, as part of the process of reducing liquidity on the market.
Meanwhile, the president of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, confirmed that there could be a rate cut in June, if the Governing Council’s forecasts are confirmed by the data. However, Lagarde specified that, even after the first move, there will be no constraints on future reductions.
From the macro agenda came UK inflation data, which fell more than expected in February. On an annual basis, the CPI grew by 3.4%, below the expected 3.5% and down from 4% in January. Core inflation stood at 4.5%, compared to the consensus 4.6% and the previous 5.1%. Italy’s industrial production fell 1.2% month-on-month in January, while the eurozone consumer confidence index improved slightly in March (from -15.5 to -14.9 points ).
On bonds, the BTP-Bund spread stands at 127 basis points, with the yield on the Italian 10-year bond falling to 3.70% and that of the Bund at 2.43%.
Among raw materials, Brent oil returns to 86 dollars a barrel, after American data on inventories which highlighted a decline in crude oil reserves of 2 million barrels. On Forex, the euro/dollar exchange rate was little changed at 1.086 and the dollar/yen increased to 151.6 yen per dollar.