An upward start for Piazza Affari and the other European stock exchanges, in line with the positive intonation of Wall Street and Asian stock markets. Milan’s Ftse Mib advanced by 0.8% to 27,615 points, with Inwit (+4.9%) at the top after yesterday’s release of the 2022 results to closed markets, followed by Prysmian (+3.8%) after the new contracts in the Netherlands for a total of 1.8 billion euro.
Stellantis (+1.8%) did well, Stm rebounded (+1.7%) after yesterday’s drop triggered by Tesla’s announcement that it intends to reduce the consumption of silicon carbide per vehicle in the future. Campari (-0.6%) and Saipem (-0.6%) were weak.
Bond yields down after yesterday’s surge, with the Btp-Bund spread down to 183 basis points and the Italian 10-year bond at 4.56%. On Forex, the euro/dollar exchange rate moved little at 1.062 while among raw materials, oil (Brent) remains close to 85 dollars a barrel and is preparing to make its first weekly gain in the last three octaves, thanks to the optimism on the recovery of the China.
On the macroeconomic front, there is an acceleration of the Chinese PMI Caixin services and composite released tonight. European PMIs and the US ISM non-manufacturing index are also on the calendar today.
The sentiment is supported in part by comments from Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta chairman Raphael Bostic that the central bank may be able to halt its rate hikes this summer. His words that bring some relief to investors after the restrictive tone of the last few days. Swap markets now price a terminal rate of 5.5% in September and some traders are even pushing as high as 6%.
Also in Europe, the latest inflation data have strengthened the prospect of a still restrictive monetary policy, with an increase in the cost of money of 150 basis points by the end of the year