MILANO – European stock exchanges closed cautiously higher. Optimism prevails among investors regarding the gradual easing of restrictive measures in countries with the improvement of data relating to the pandemic. The attention of the markets is focused above all on central banks: operators are wondering about when monetary support will begin to fail, even if for the moment this is the number one of the Fed Jerome Powell as much as the ECB president Christine Lagarde they have sent reassuring signals in this regard.
The same Economic Bulletin of the Eurotower notes that “headline inflation is likely to increase further in the coming months”, however “the indicators of longer-term inflation expectations derived from the markets remain at low levels”. Therefore, “the very accommodative stance of monetary policy” is confirmed. As for the economic situation, the vaccination campaigns “should lay the foundations for a recovery in economic activity over 2021, although it will take some time for a complete recovery”, in a context that remains “of high uncertainty. “.
And it is these words that put the brakes on EU lists throughout the day. The indices all end in positive. Milano closes at + 0.13%. London salt by 0.5%, Frankfurt advances by 0.25% e Paris 0.28%. Unicredit was also in the spotlight at Piazza Affari, which showed better than expected results. In sharp decline Tim (-5.52%), in the wake of the news of a possible stop in Brussels on the single network project anticipated by Republic. After a five-day break, he returns to trading Tokyo: restarts positive and closes with a robust + 1.8%.
Wall Street it is cautiously rising after the data on unemployment benefits, which fall below 500,000 units (498,000 to be precise), more than expected (527,000 were expected). The Dow Jones is up 0.4% and the Nasdaq is even. Thump for Modern, whose stock lost more than 9% after presenting the accounts for the first quarter of the year. According to analysts, the trend is linked to slightly lower than expected revenues (1.94 billion dollars compared to 2.03 billion forecasts), but it is also the effect of the Biden administration’s announcement to revoke patents for vaccines. Pfizer, the other American company that makes a Covid vaccine, lost more than 2% at the start of the trading day.
It should be noted that the Bank of England raised its estimates for the growth of the UK economy in 2021, from 5% in February to 7.25%, while lowering those for 2022, from 7.2% in February to 5.75%.
Among commodities, oil is retracing at a time that is still an upward trend for the sector: the Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index, reference of the commodity basket, is at its highest since 2011 driven by strong growth in demand linked to the restart of the economies . Among the protagonists of the race there is always the copper, which yesterday broke through the 10 thousand dollars per ton barrier for the first time in ten years and then repositioned itself this morning at 9,990. Gold also rose slightly, at $ 1,788.49 an ounce (+ 0.1%) while silver and palladium remained stable. The prices of the Petroleum expand the
losses, after a start on parity, due to the increase in Covid cases in India and despite yesterday there was a decline in US stocks greater than expected. The WTI lost 1.2% to 64.8 dollars, Brent 1.1% to 68.2 dollars.
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On the currency front, the exchange rate remains little changed euro / dollar. The single currency changes hands at $ 1.206, without jolts compared to yesterday’s price after the close of Wall Street. The European currency is also stable against the yen at 131.58, from 131.20 of yesterday’s price. The spread between BTPs and German Bunds it closed with a slight increase at 113 basis points, just above 112 at the opening.
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