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(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) – European stock markets manage to make a final comeback after US data on the labor market, better than expected, had cooled the price lists. Pink jersey for Piazza Affari which closed up by 1.16%, ahead of Paris, Frankfurt and Madrid, which settled on increases of around one percentage point. Meanwhile, in the United States, yields on 10- and 30-year Treasury bonds have soared to near their highest levels since 2007 while the dollar strengthens against the euro. The BTp-Bund spread remains under observation, which still rises above 200 basis points, the 10-year Bund went up to 2.95% and the BTp of the same maturity approached 5% during the day.
Wall Street down, yields near highs
Wall Street fell after September’s solid jobs report pushed yields on 10- and 30-year Treasury bonds back to near their highest levels since 2007, which they hit on Tuesday. In September, 336,000 jobs were created (excluding the agricultural sector) compared to the previous month, while analysts expected an increase of 170,000 jobs and this reinforces the reading of a “hawkish” Fed also in the near future. The August figure was revised from 187,000 to 227,000. Unemployment remained stable at 3.8% (August data confirmed), against expectations for a drop to 3.7%.
Tim collapses in Piazza Affari
Tim fell, closing in the red (-5.89%), reaching its lowest level in two months. The market is still looking for reassurances on the outcome of the meeting between Finance Minister Giorgetti and Vivendi’s top management on the next reorganization of the telecommunications group. Among the main Milanese stocks, the banks led by Banco Bpm (+3.46%), Bper (+3%), Mps (+2.88%) and Unicredit (+2.86%) stand out. Intesa Sanpaolo also did well, rising by 1.56% and Banca Generali (+1.56%). Saipem was weak (-0.41%) after the jump the day before following the announcement of the maxi contract worth 4.1 billion dollars in the United Arab Emirates. In the rest of Europe, noteworthy are the losses of Philips, which is still suffering from the recall of respiratory devices due to possible risks for users, and of Nestlé on an overall negative day for the food sector.
BTp yield rising, dollar strengthens
On bonds, the spread between BTp and Bund is still rising at 203 basis points and the yield of the benchmark ten-year BTp also rises to +4.91% against 4.89% at the closing the day before. Meanwhile, the second issue of the BTp Valore closed with a total collection of 17.23 billion. On the last day of placement, around 65 thousand orders arrived from small savers for a value of 1.565 billion euros.
On the currency market, the euro/dollar exchange rate rebounded to 1.0585 (from 1.0534 at the start), after slipping to 1.0501 following the publication of the report on the US labor market. Oil rose slightly to 84.2 dollars a barrel for Brent for December delivery and to 82.4 dollars for WTI for November delivery. Natural gas appreciates at 37.8 euros per meagawatt hour, up 4.6 percent