Mostly positive closing for the European stock exchanges, improving in the last part of the session. In Piazza Affari, the Ftse Mib files trades up by 0.7% to 27,036 points, with purchases above all on Mps (+5%), at the center of speculation on possible M&As with Bper (+0.2%), Finecobank (+2.8%) and Recordati (+2.6%), while Eni (-0.9%), Pirelli (-0.8%) and Leonardo (-0.7%) fell back.
Little move on Wall Street, with the tech rally on pause and attention projected to next week’s Fed meeting. Operators are increasingly betting that the institute will keep rates stable at the June meeting, while leaving open the option for subsequent hikes. Treasury yields rose after US central bank vice president Richard Clarida ruled out rate cuts through 2024.
During the day, the World Bank said that the global economy is in a precarious situation, also due to monetary tightening, casting shadows on growth prospects. In Europe, however, the ECB released the monthly survey on consumer expectations which shows that the outlook for consumer prices significantly decreased in April.
From the macroeconomic agenda came data on orders from German factories (-0.4% in April, better than expected) and retail sales in the Eurozone (stable on a monthly basis in April, below expectations).
On bonds, the Btp-Bund spread widens to 178 bp, with the Italian ten-year yield at 4.14%. Among raw materials, oil (Brent) is back above 76 dollars a barrel while among currencies the euro/dollar slips below 1.07 in the wake of indications from the ECB.