Opaque Thursday for Piazza Affari. After a promising start, EU equities gradually gave way to sales and the Ftse Mib index finally closed down 1.03% to 21,140 points. Waiting for tomorrow’s non-farm payrolls, today a quiet day on the macro front with weekly unemployment benefits in the US that were higher than expected.
Utilities with Enel (-3.51% to 4.17 euros) are in great trouble in Milan today, which has fallen to their lowest levels since March 2017 in the 4.15 euro area. Since the beginning of the year, the largest Italian utility has dropped by around 41 percent. Today, all the utilities suffered with over -3% also for Terna and Hera.
A difficult day also for the banking sector with Banco BPM slipping back by 3.71% and Bper by 3.06%. Outside the Ftse Mib debacle for Banca MPS (-5.3%) which pays the growing uncertainties linked to the 2.5 billion euro capital increase. The institute led by CEO Luigi Lovaglio would be encountering many difficulties in finding 900 million euros of private capital, necessary for the success of the capital increase. During the course of yesterday in Rome, meetings were held between the MEF, the CEO Lovaglio and the representatives of the banks of the consortium who expressed doubts about the granting of the guarantee on the entire unexercised increase (to date seen according to rumors in the area 600 mln). According to some press reports, these discussions could lead to a revision of the operation’s timetable, which today provides for the start of the increase for October 17 and closing in mid-November, with the hypothesis of a spin-off of the capital strengthening operation into two tranches.
Today there is a new focus on Generali Assicurazioni (-2.29% to € 13.88) in the wake of the new rumors that see the Trieste insurance group interested in the purchase of the US asset manager Brightsphere. It is reported today by Il Sole 24 Ore. Brightsphere has around $ 91 billion in assets under management and could be a less expensive alternative to Guggenheim.