MILANO – Restart with a cautious rise for European markets, frightened on the one hand by the new tightening announced by the Fed and on the other by the worsening of the gas crisis, with the stop started today on gas deliveries to Europe by the Russian giant Gazprom through Nord Stream 1. The spotlight is also on the EU inflation data, arriving this morning.
The Ftse Mib index, in Piazza Affari, starts trading at 21,928 points (+ 0.47%), followed closely by Frankfurt (+ 0.42%). Paris also did well (+ 0.19%); weaker London (+ 0.10%). In Asia, the resumption of Covid infections is worrying, with the new massive lockdown in several cities of the country that could lead to a slowdown in economic growth. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index ends down by 0.4%.
Among currencies, the euro is up slightly against the dollar at the start, above par. The European currency rises to 1.0035, with a rise of 0.25%. There was little movement in the common currency with the Japanese yen at 138.93 and with the British pound at 0.8587.
China, SME index remains weak in August
China’s manufacturing PMI index rose to 49.4 points in August, up from 49.0 the previous month, beating market forecasts of 49.2. It is the second consecutive month of contraction in factory activity, in the midst of a resurgence of Covid cases, with new lockdowns in some cities and electric rationing due to the worst heat waves of recent decades.
Production (49.8 versus 49.8 in July), new orders (49.2 versus 48.5) and export sales (48.1 versus 47.4) all decreased while purchasing activity it remained weak (49.2 versus 48.9) and employment remained in contraction territory (48.9 versus 48.6).