MILANO – Markets caught between the outcome of the US vote, still uncertain as regards the Senate, and the expectation of American prices. A still strong reading would give further urgency to the need for tightening by the Fed. Futures on Wall Street are positive: analysts are aiming for a slowdown in the general component (from 8.2% to 8%), while the ‘core ‘(ie without the prices of energy and food, in particular rents) is still estimated at high levels (stopping at 6.6%).
Great concern in the crypto sector. Binance pulled back from the bailout of Ftx plagued by liquidity problems (it would have been a transaction between the two largest virtual asset trading platforms). In a note released Wednesday evening, after due diligence, Binance said it was concerned about the amount of problems that emerged: according to the Wall Street Journal there is talk of an 8 billion hole. Binance has also directly pointed the finger on other aspects: the way of managing client funds, which have attracted the investigations of the American authorities. And so Bitcoin slipped to new lows in two years, below 16 thousand euros yesterday evening, before recovering that threshold.
Euro up at the opening
The euro opens higher above par with the dollar pending US inflation data in October that will be released later today. The single currency changes hands at $ 1.0033 and at 146.67 yen. Dollar / yen at 146.19.
Higher closing for Tokyo: + 0.97%
The Tokyo Stock Exchange closed up with the Nikkei index rising 0.97% to 27,448 points.
Also in Asia, the Chinese central bank carried out a total of 9 billion yuan (about $ 1.24 billion) of repurchase agreements on Thursday to maintain the liquidity of the banking system. The Central Bank stated that the operation aims to keep liquidity in the banking system reasonable and ample. Repurchase agreement is a process in which the central bank buys securities from commercial banks through an auction, with an agreement to resell them in the future.
Generali, stable net profit in the nine months
Generali’s net profit in the first nine months of the year was almost stable at € 2,233 million (-0.8%). Without the impact of Russian investments, net profit would have increased to 2,374 million (+ 5.5%). The operating result, on the other hand, grew further to 4.8 billion (+ 7.8%), thanks to the positive development of the Life and Non-Life segments. Gross premiums are up slightly to 59.8 billion (+ 1.3%), thanks to the development of Non-Life (+ 10.3%), particularly in the non-motor sector, while premiums are down in Life (-2, 9%). This can be read in a note from Generali issued the day after the board of directors approved the accounts.
Post office, profit in nine months + 21%
Poste Italiane closes the accounts for the first nine months of 2022 with a net profit up 21%, to 1.4 billion, compared to the same period of the previous year. After a good third quarter, with net profit up 15% to 461 million and revenues up 4.3% to 2.9 billion “with a positive underlying mix across all businesses”, the Board of Directors reviewed at increase the guidance for the year 2022 raising the Ebit target expected from 2 to 2.3 billion “equal to more than double the level of 2017”. The “solid results” highlights the company, support the distribution of an interim dividend of 0.210 euros per share.
Operating profit estimates are up. “We now expect operating profit to reach € 2.3 billion by 2022, compared to our original target of € 2.0 billion, reflecting the solid year-to-date performance and enabling the distribution of an interim dividend of 0.21. per share “, the forecast of CEO Matteo Del Fante.