Positive day for European stock indices, while Wall Street shows little movement after the rally of the last three weeks. On Piazza Affari, the Ftse Mib closed up by 0.8% at 29,498 points, with Saipem (+3.1%) and Diasorin (+2.8%) in evidence while Interpump (-2.1%) and Generali Assicurazioni (-0.6%), the latter held back by some elements of uncertainty despite the positive results of the 9 months.
The final data for October on inflation in the euro zone were released during the day, confirming the slowdown to 2.9% and the core figure falling to 4.2%.
Focus also on the interventions of some representatives of the ECB, including President Lagarde who relaunched the theme of a single supervision of the financial markets at a European level.
Nagel, Villeroy and Holzmann toned down enthusiasm about rate cuts in 2024, although money markets have begun to price in a full percentage point cut next year.
Even in the US, Fed officials are preaching calm in stating that inflation is falling towards the 2% target. In the United Kingdom, October numbers on retail sales showed an unexpected drop of 0.3% monthly (-0.1% excluding fuel), reinforcing the hypothesis of monetary policy easing by the BoE.
On bonds, the BTP-Bund spread widens slightly to 176 bp, with the Italian ten-year bond at 4.35%, awaiting Moody’s judgment on Italy’s rating. The agency has a negative outlook and has already threatened a downgrade of Italy’s rating to junk level.
On the Forex, the euro/dollar strengthens to 1.088, while the exchange rate between the greenback and the yen falls below the threshold of 150 yen per dollar.
Among raw materials, oil recovers ground after yesterday’s decline, with Brent just a hair away from 80 dollars a barrel, but still close to recording its fourth consecutive weekly decline.
The next week will be conditioned by the Thanksgiving holidays in the US, but also by Nvidia’s quarterly report, a beacon for monitoring the progress of the artificial intelligence megatrend. Also worth following are the manufacturing and services PMI indices of the main economies and the Fed and ECB minutes.