Colorless session for the European stock exchanges, in view of the meetings with the central banks in the coming days. On Piazza Affari, the Ftse Mib ended unchanged (0.0%) at 33,940 points, with purchases on Leonardo (+2.3%), Bper (+2%) and Banca Popolare di Sondrio (+1.9%) , entering the main basket today in place of Banca Generali. However, Brunello Cucinelli (-2.3%), Iveco Group (-2.5%) and Nexi (-3.3%) fell.
Quiet day from a macro point of view. The final Eurozone inflation data for February confirmed growth of 2.6% on an annual basis and the core index at 3.1%. China’s industrial production and retail sales were above expectations and in line with estimates, respectively.
The Bank of Japan’s decision is expected tomorrow, which could put an end to the era of negative rates. In the next few days, the spotlight will be on the Fed meeting. No surprises on rates are expected from the American central bank, but operators will carefully observe the update of the dot plots, the officials’ projections on the cost of money.
Also worth following is the Bank of England meeting and some speeches by ECB members, including President Lagarde, as well as the PMI indices and inflation in the United Kingdom.
On bonds, the BTP-Bund spread stands at 122 basis points, with the yield on the Italian ten-year bond at 3.68% and that of the Bund at 2.46%.
Among raw materials, Brent oil exceeds 86 dollars a barrel. On Forex, euro/dollar exchange rate at 1.087 and dollar/yen at 149.2 yen per dollar.