MILANO – 12:45 pm. Markets are hovering close to maximum levels after reassurances received from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank about maintaining adequate levels of support for the economy. As a note Bloomberg, in these conditions the famous Vix – the fear index that measures the expected volatility of the markets – has gone below the threshold of 20 points and to the minimum since February 2020. There is no shortage of traders’ bets who see it rising in the next times, especially if the economic recovery were to give signs of inconstancy and the prospects for tax increases by the US administration weigh on the prospects of companies.
In Europe, the indices move little. Milano it turns down after the positive start of the start and at mid-session it drops 0.4%. The Atlantia affair is holding the spotlight, with the offer launched by Florentino Perez to take over Aspi. Tod’s under the spotlight for the entry of Chiara Ferragni on the board of directors. Oppose other financial centers: London yields 0.1%, Paris rises by 0.26% while Frankfurt adds 0.1%.
Wall Street has just returned from a new record session driven by the technology sector: the Dow Jones gained 0.17%, the S & P500 closed at + 0.42% and the Nasdaq gained one percentage point. Futures are uncertain today as Treasury yields rise. Asian stock exchanges closed lower except Tokyo. Chinese equity markets are affected by the increase in inflation in March (+ 0.4% year on year after two months of decline). In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index lost more than 1%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange lost 0.9% while in Tokyo the Nikkei ended the day up 0.2%.
The day began with the sudden drop, surprisingly, of the German industrial production in February. According to the German Ministry of Economy it fell, month over month, by 1.6% against an expected increase of 1.5%. Year on year the result is -6.4%. Istat registered for February a rebound in retail sales by 6.6% in value and 7.2% in volume on the previous month driven “by sales of non-food goods, a significant recovery from the depressed levels of the last three months”. On an annual basis, however, “a marked decline remains”, of 5.7% in value and 7% in volume. The downward trend concerns food and non-food goods, in large distribution as well as in small shops. Istat also released the final figures for 2020 with the drop in final consumption expenditure of 10.9%, with the propensity to save doubled to 15.8%. Thanks to income support, these fell ‘only’ by 2.8% (-32 billion) while disposable income fell by 2.6%.
L’euro opens slightly close to $ 1.19. The single currency changes hands for 1.1895 dollars. Dollar up against the yen at 109.43. Euro / yen at 130.12. The spread it moves just above 100 basis points. The Treasury has placed all 7 billion euros of annual BOTs offered at auction, with falling rates. The average yield fell to -0.436% from -0.421% in the previous placement. Demand reached 9.56 billion.
Among the commodities, the price of the Petroleum WTI remains below the $ 60 threshold on the markets where it trades at $ 59.45 per barrel (-0.25%). Brent from the North Sea fell 9.43% to 62.93 dollars. Price oforo down on the markets. Immediate delivery metal drops by 0.29% to $ 1,750 an ounce.
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