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(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) – An anonymous day on the European lists which, orphaned by Wall Street closed for holidays, floated around parity for the whole session to then end up in slightly negative territory. After the recent rally, which brought Piazza Affari to its highest level since September 2008 (before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers), the FTSE MIB is also taking a break. In the background, however, while awaiting the quarterly season, there is no shortage of fears on the markets, amidst doubts on the moves of the Fed and the ECB on rates, the slowdown of the global economy and the geopolitical tensions between the USA and China in the so-called “war of the chip” with vetoes from both sides. At the end of the session, the other main indices of the Old Continent were also in “red”, from the CAC 40 in Paris to the DAX 40 in Frankfurt, via the IBEX 35 in Madrid and the FT-SE 100 in London.
New York for Independence Day
Wall Street is closed for the 4th of July public holiday, which commemorates the declaration of independence from Great Britain. Expectations remain high, however, ahead of this week’s US jobs report, one of the factors the Federal Reserve keeps an eye on in deciding on any further interest rate hikes.
FTSE Mib Stock Exchange performance
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Generali cools down, Saipem runs. Queue the banks
At Piazza Affari, in the session of 4 July, the Generali stock slowed down after the sprint on the eve while the hypotheses of a takeover by Delfin seem to be cooling off the group. Press rumors then return to the possible change of ownership in Banca Generali, which would see Mediobanca as the reference shareholder in place of Generali. At the top of the list at the end of the session is Saipem which rises again after the +3% posted on the eve, with the covering of the stock driven by the good performance of orders. Purchases on Enel with the rumors of Repsol’s interest in Endesa (curtly denied by the energy group), together with Nexi and Erg. Realizations on banks with Banca Mps, Banca Pop Er, Banco Bpm and the rest of the sector, Stellantis also down after the data on registrations.
Spread closes up at 174 points, yield rises to 4.19%
Closing up for the BTp/Bund spread. At the end of the session, the yield differential between the ten-year benchmark BTP and the German security of the same duration stood at 174 basis points, up by 3 basis points compared to the closing on 3 July. The yield of the ten-year benchmark BTP also increased, reaching a last position at 4.19% from 4.14% at the previous closing.
Trend of the Btp / Bund spread
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Euro returns to 1.09 dollars, oil runs
Lastly, on the currency market, the euro-dollar exchange rate remains at 1.09 (1.091 from 1.0904 yesterday) while the euro/yen is at 157.6 (157.68). Dollar/yen at 144.412 (144.56). Oil up: Wti in August at 70.23 dollars (+1.6%), Brent in September at 75.09 dollars (+1.58%), with the extension of production cuts decided by Saudi Arabia and Russia.