Toned session for Piazza Affari and the other European stock exchanges, also supported by the positive performance of Wall Street so far.
The Ftse Mib archives trading up 1.6% to 27,825 points, with purchases above all on Inwit (+8.2%), which has released growing results in 2022 and convincing financial targets for the period 2023-2026. and on Amplifon (+6.7%) on World Hearing Day. Prysmian is also doing well (+4.3%) after the new orders in Holland for a total of 1.8 billion euros. Only Saipem (-2.15%) and Campari (-0.5%) fell.
Bond yields generally down after yesterday’s surge, with the Btp-Bund spread down to 181 basis points and the Italian 10-year bond at 4.52%. On Forex, the euro/dollar exchange rate returns to the 1.06 area while among raw materials, oil (Brent) exceeds 85 dollars a barrel and is preparing to make its first weekly gain in the last three octaves, thanks to the optimism for the recovery of China.
The acceleration in China’s Caixin Services and Composite PMIs helped buoy sentiment. In February, the eurozone also recorded the strongest economic expansion since June 2022, while the US ISM services index remained substantially stable at 55.1 points, confirming the solidity of the sector.
Numbers that risk complicating the task of central banks, but the markets seem to have already priced in the next rate hikes. They also welcomed comments from Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta chairman Raphael Bostic that the central bank may end its monetary tightening cycle this summer.
Swap markets are now pricing a Fed terminal rate of nearly 5.5% in September, with some traders even pushing as high as 6%. In Europe, the most probable hypothesis is that of an overall increase in the cost of money of 150 basis points by the end of the year.
As for the coming week, focus especially on Jerome Powell’s semiannual hearing in Congress, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Friday’s US job report. The last meeting of the Bank of Japan under the leadership of Kuroda is also scheduled.