The European stock exchanges closed up again, following up on the positive performance of the first eighth of 2023. In Piazza Affari, the Ftse Mib ended today’s session up 0.8% to 25,385 points, with Telecom Italia standing out at +5, 6%, in the wake of the constructive climate on the network front and awaiting developments in the coming weeks.
Stm (+5.2%), Ferrari (+3.4%) and Saipem (+3.3%) are also in tune, supported by the positive trend of crude oil (Brent +1.2% at 79.5 dollars per barrel). On the other hand, Erg (-1.6%), Generali (-0.9%) and Leonardo (-0.9%) fell. On bonds, the Btp-Bund spread is below 200 basis points, with the Italian ten-year yield falling to 4.23%. Euro/dollar exchange rate rising to 1.075 while natural gas is back to over 74 euro/MWh.
Data on German industrial production (+0.2% monthly in November) and unemployment in the euro area (stable at 6.5%) were released during the day.
On the one hand, the reopening of the Chinese borders and on the other hand, the hopes that the Fed could slightly ease monetary tightening contribute to supporting market sentiment. A hypothesis supported by the macro data on Friday, which highlighted lower than expected growth in wages (despite the increase in non farm payrolls) and a contraction of the ISM services index, below the 50 point threshold.
Tomorrow the spotlights will be on a speech by Jerome Powell, president of the Fed. Also to be followed are the words of BoE governor Andrew Bailey and ECB member Isabel Schnabel. Thursday’s focus will shift to US inflation data, which will help investors formulate expectations about the US central bank’s next moves. Lastly, the new season of US quarterly reports will kick off on Friday with the accounts of the banking giants Citigroup, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo.