Modest gains for the European stock exchanges and for Piazza Affari, with the Ftse Mib ending up 0.5% at 26,329 points. In evidence Unicredit (+4.4%), which received the approval of the ECB for its share buyback plan worth 3.34 billion euro.
Tenaris (+3%) Telecom Italia (+2.5%) also performed well, the latter awaiting the new improved offers from Cdp and Kkr. The consortium led by the Cassa would be ready to raise the stakes by 2 billion, exceeding 20 billion to grab NetCo. Down Stm (-2.85%), in line with the other semiconductor stocks, Recordati (-1.8%) and A2A (-1.7%).
Concerns about the resilience of the banking system are partially easing, despite today’s news of the searches of some French institutions as part of an investigation into tax fraud and money laundering in connection with the payment of dividends.
Investors thus return to focus more on monetary policy and economic growth. Data on inflation in the eurozone and the PCE deflator in the US, a measure of prices closely monitored by the Fed, are expected this week. Meanwhile, consumer confidence numbers in Italy and the US have shown an improvement.
Focus also on the interventions of some Fed officials, who will testify before Congress on the collapse of regional banks, and on a speech by Christine Lagarde scheduled for Friday.
Bond yields still on the rise both in the USA and in Europe. The 2-year Treasury is up 4.03% and the 10-year is up 3.55%. Btp-Bund spread slightly moved at 184 bp with the Italian 10-year bond at 4.14%.
On Forex, the euro/dollar exceeds 1.08 and the dollar/yen resists above 131. Among the raw materials, oil (Brent) is still advancing at 78 dollars a barrel.