Taurus need to catch their breath
No chance for those who bet on a loosening of monetary policies: the strength of the US labor market, the minutes of the last meeting of the Fed, the performance of the American services sector confirm the robustness of the US economy in this phase and therefore leave field open to the ‘hawks’ of the Fed. The wait now is all for the official data on unemployment, arriving tomorrow.
Piazza Affari at its lowest
The European stock exchanges, already weak in the morning, closed close to the day’s lows with drops of more than two percentage points (in Milan, the Ftse Mib closed down by 2.53% to 27,506 points), worsening decidedly after the employment data in the US private sector (increased more than double expectations) and the services index, which fell less than expected.
US two-year bonds are at their highest for two years
On Wall Street, sales on equities and a jump in yields on bonds, with those on 2-year bonds at their highest for 16 years. The BTp/Bund spread rose to 175 points. Generalized sales on Milanese shares: only Fineco saves itself with a jump of 6% after the June collection data, which see a balance sheet of over 5 billion in the first six months. Saipem’s positive streak continues (+0.22%), all the other stocks are in the red, with Amplifon (-5.6%) in line with St (-5.18%), penalized by the “chip war” between China and the USA. In Milan, high attention was paid to the securities of the “Berlusconi galaxy” on the day of the diffusion of the will of Silvio Berlusconi, who left control of the Fininvest holding to his children Marina and Pier Silvio with 53%. Mfe (about -2.5% for both), Mondadori (-2.5%) and Banca Mediolanum (-2.6%) shares were down.
Euros down
On the currency side, after an attempt to rise, the euro lost ground and at the end of the day was traded at 1.0836 dollars (from 1.0879 at yesterday’s close). The single currency is also worth 156.72 yen (157.26), while the dollar/yen cross is at 144.63 (from 143.884). After some uncertainty, oil also takes the downward path, with concerns about the continuation of restrictive monetary policies which feeds fears about the stability of demand: the WTI in August loses 2% to 70.36 dollars and the Brent in September on 1 .9% to $75.19. The price of gas fell by 4.8% to 32.7 euros per MWh.