Closing higher on Piazza Affari, in a mostly positive session for European stock markets. The Ftse Mib closes trading with an increase of 0.5% at 33,940 points, with Mps (+4.3%), Pirelli (+3.7%) and Stellantis (+2.6%) among the best, while Brunello Cucinelli (-8%) loses ground after the accounts below analysts’ expectations. Diasorin (-4.1%) and STM (-3.2%) also fell.
Wall Street is in the red, in a session that could highlight a certain volatility due to the simultaneous expiration of futures and options on indices and individual shares (so-called “Day of the Four Witches”).
From the macro agenda came American data on manufacturing from the State of New York (worsening to -20.9 points in March), industrial production (+0.1% in February) and consumer confidence from the University of Michigan (down to 76.5 points in March), with stable inflation expectations.
In Italy the harmonized index of consumer prices was revised to +0.8% in February, while retail sales fell by 0.1% in January.
Operators are looking above all to next week, with the meetings of the Fed, the BoE, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Japan, which could raise rates to emerge from the era of negative financing costs. Focus in particular on the American central bank, which will disseminate updated dot plots, officials’ projections on the cost of money.
On bonds, the BTP-Bund spread fluctuates around 126 basis points, with the yield on the Italian 10-year bond at 3.7% and that of the Bund at 2.44%.
Among raw materials, Brent oil is holding above 85 dollars a barrel. On Forex, euro/dollar exchange rate at 1.089 and dollar/yen at 149 yen per dollar.