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(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) – The European indices have had a positive week, without being discouraged by the prudence of the ECB leaders on future rate cuts, nor by the disappointing macroeconomic data arriving from overseas. Thus the Ftse Mib of Milan ends the week with an increase of 1.8% (+0.12% in today’s session). The other continental markets also rose well: the Dax 40 of Frankfurt ended the eighth with an increase of 1.1% (+0.41%), the Cac 40 of Paris of 1.6% (+0.32 % on the day) and the Amsterdam Aex of 0.7% (+1.24%). London’s Ftse 100 closes the week with an increase of 1.8%, thanks to today’s sprint, when the British index finished up 1.5%, driven by the rebound in retail sales in January after the record drop in December 2023. The exception is Madrid’s Ibex, down 0.1%, also weighed down by today’s performance (-0.41%).
In Europe, among the sectors that are suffering the most are technology (with a weekly loss of the Stoxx 600 sub-index of 0.6%) and energy (-0.2%). Among the best are cars (+3%), followed by raw materials (+2.7%), banks (+2.7%) and retail (+2.7%). As regards securities, banks fared better (+1.4% the Ftse Italia All-Share Banks index), as did small caps (+1.4%); utilities are further behind (+0.3%).
Unipol jumps on the Ftse Mib, Banco Bpm down
Unipol’s leap on the Ftse Mib with today’s exploit following the takeover bid for Unipolsai: in the eighth it achieved a 20.7% increase. Positive week also for Leonardo which ended up by 10.3% (+1.02% in today’s session). Followed by Saipem (+9.2%), Brunello Cucinelli (+5.9%) and Stellantis (+5.8%). Among the stocks suffering the greatest losses is Banco Bpm which suffered a decline of 5.3% in the eighth quarter (-0.67% today) with the exit of the Crt foundation from the capital. Inwiit (-1%), Eni (-1%) and Erg (-1.3%) were also weak.
On the exchange rate front, the single currency weakened slightly against the greenback, with the euro falling on the cross by 0.2%.
Stock markets without momentum in the February 16 session, Milan at +0.1%
European stock markets close in positive territory, despite data on US producer prices, which grew beyond expectations in January. The trend of the indices was also influenced by the quarterly season in which the industrial sector is the protagonist in Italy. In this context, the Ftse Mib of Milan ended the session at +0.12%, weighed down by Eni (-3%) and despite Unipol’s rally (+21%). The Cac of Paris (+0.3%) and the Dax of Frankfurt (+0.4%) were also positive. The Ftse 100 of London is running (1.5%) and the Aex of Amsterdam (1.2%) while the Ibex is the only one in the red (-0.43%).