The positive performance of Wall Street supports the European stock exchanges, which close above parity. At Piazza Affari, the Ftse Mib ends up by 0.2% to 25,821 points, with Leonardo at the top (+3.5%) after the indications of CEO Leonardo on the prospects for 2023. “In the world of defense and security investments are growing all over the world; therefore, it is a sector that is growing significantly,” underlined Profumo.
Italgas (+2.8%) and Intesa Sanpaolo (+2.7%) were also in the spotlight after reassurances on the ability to meet the targets relating to shareholder remuneration. The institute specified that the Group’s fully loaded Common Equity Tier 1 ratio is expected to settle at levels in the order of 13% as at 31 December 2022 and subsequently at levels that largely meet the target above 12% over the horizon of the Plan of Enterprise 2022-2025.
Behind Enel (-3.3%) and Snam (-2.7%), held back by the detachment of the interim dividend for 2022. In detail, Enel paid an interim dividend of 20 cents per share while Snam distributed 11 cents a share.
On bonds, the Btp-Bund spread remains little moved at 180 basis points, with the Italian ten-year yield at 4% after Friday’s rise. Euro/dollar up to 1.087 after momentarily exceeding 1.09. More buying on oil after last eighth’s gains, in the wake of China’s recovery prospects, with Brent close to 89 dollars a barrel.
Attention remains focused on monetary policy, ahead of next week’s Fed and ECB meetings. According to rumors, Powell and his colleagues are considering pausing the pace of rate hikes in the spring. Restrictive messages instead from the ECB, with the words of the governor of the Dutch central bank, Klaas Knot, who spoke of various adjustments of 50 basis points. Peter Kažimír, governor of Slovakia’s central bank, also called for two more 50 basis point tightening by the ECB.
Focus also on American quarterly accounts, with accounts from Microsoft, IBM, Tesla, Visa and Mastercard due out in the next few days. On the macro front, the eurozone consumer confidence index rose to -20.9 points in January, while the preliminary January PMIs, 4Q US GDP and December US core Pce are expected this week.