The main European stock exchanges had a positive day, while Wall Street continued to record a favorable trend. In Piazza Affari the Ftse Mib ended little changed (+0.13%) at 34,683.86 points.
Saipem, the best on the list, gained 4.56%, followed by Amplifon (+3.02%), Bper Banca (+2.68%) and Banca Popolare di Sondrio (+2.6%). Stellantis is the worst with a drop of -2.14%, but remains close to historical highs. Hera (-1.63%), Recordati (-0.96%) and Erg (-0.94%) also fell.
Poor day of macroeconomic data. Orders for US durable goods (preliminary data) showed growth of 1.4% on a monthly basis, a marked improvement compared to -6.9% in the previous survey (data revised from -6.2%). The Bloomberg consensus indicated a growth of 1%.
The consumer confidence index drawn up by the Conference Board stood at 104.7 points in March, substantially unchanged compared to the previous 104.8 (revised from 106.7). The figure is, however, lower than analysts’ estimates, equal to 107 points.
On bonds, the BTP-Bund spread remains above 129.5 basis points, with the yield on the Italian ten-year bond at 3.641% and that of the Bund in the 2.346% area.
Among raw materials, Brent oil returns above 86.57 dollars a barrel. On Forex, the euro/dollar exchange rate rose slightly to 1.0829 and the dollar/yen changed little to 151.497.