MILANO – 1 pm Fears of a resurgence of the virus weighed on Asian equities and also put pressure on European stock exchanges while Wall Street futures improved during the morning. A rise, in particular of the Nasdaq, which allows the EU lists to recover part of the losses: Milano in the middle of the day he is only in fractional decline while Leonardo suffers after the stop at the quotation of Drs. Frankfurt loses 0.5% after the Ifo has cut German growth estimates at + 3.7% in 2021, Paris 0.2% and London 0.15%.
US Treasury yields continue their downward path after Jerome Powell, head of the Federal Reserve, eased fears of a rebound in prices (“the Fed has the tools to deal with too high inflation”) and yet on the mood of the investors weigh more the grip of the third wave on the economic recovery. So much so that the Petroleum, historically correlated to the macroeconomic outlook, yesterday reported a 6% collapse but today it is recovering to levels for the WTI around 58 dollars and for Brent just above 60.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange it closed lower with the Nikkei index losing 2.04% to 28,405 points. Concerns about the third wave of pandemic in Europe, potential US tax hikes and growing tensions between the West and China have weakened the risk appetite of markets. Elements that add up to the end-of-quarter maturities, which put volatility on the markets due to the ongoing rebalancing of portfolios.
I future di Wall Street they rose, as mentioned, after a weak session: last night, the US indices closed in the red with the Dow Jones at -0.91% and the Nasdaq down 1.1%. To weigh on the mood of the New York financial center, the indications of the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, on the plan to increase the taxation on companies to finance other public expenses.
Among currencies, theeuro opens down below $ 1.19. Concerns about the third wave of pandemic in Europe, potential US tax hikes and growing tensions between the West and China have undermined the risk appetite of markets. The European currency changes hands at 1.1840 dollars and 128.47 yen. Dollar / yen falls to 108.50. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.6%.
It spread between ten-year BTPs and German Bund counterparts, it opens slightly up to 95.2 points, after closing yesterday at 94.3 points. The yield on Italian bonds is down to 0.589%.
The macro day is characterized by the data on SME manufacturing, an anticipatory index of the economic trend thanks to the survey carried out on the purchasing managers of companies. Japan, first to give the data, saw the manufacturing PMI rise from 51.4 to 52 points in March, above the expansion threshold set at 50 points. In the Eurozone positive signals fromComposite SME index (what a sum of manufacturing and services) which returned to growth in March, for the first time in six months. The overall flash SME index of the Eurozone rises to 52.5 points, from 48.8 points in February, above the 50-point bar, which represents the threshold between the expansion and contraction of the cycle. The latest data calculated by Ihs Markit show the industry sector that touches a record level of 63 points and a services sector that from 45.7 points in February stands at 48.8 points in March, below 50 points but at the top of 7. months. Durable goods orders from the United States are added, while Powell and Yellen report to the Senate Banking Commission.
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