(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) – The European stock exchanges they start the week on the right foot, shrugging off the fears related to US inflation and monetary policy tightening that had pushed stock prices down last week. The indices, which had already risen sharply right from the start, closed sharply higher and just below the session highs in the wake of Wall Street, which in turn rebounds after the stop of the previous eighth, the worst of 2023. Thus the FTSE MIB of Piazza Affari was the first in the class, after earning more than two points, driven by the banks led by UniCredit. Anyway well the CAC 40 of Paris, the DAX 40 of Frankfurt, theIBEX 35 in Madrid, l’AEX of Amsterdam and the FT-SE 100 from London.
However, investors are trying to understand what the next moves of central banks will be in terms of rates, from the Fed to the ECB. A series of chiaroscuro macro data arriving from the United States does not help to clarify, while investors have already circled on the calendar the key appointment scheduled for March 2, when the veil on inflation in the euro area will be lifted, which the market expects a further slowdown. This as Europe celebrates the agreement with the UK on the Northern Ireland protocol, a move it has swiftly made brought the pound back to 1.20 dollars.
Wall Street closes positive, durable goods orders below estimates
Positive performance on Wall Street – closing Nasdaq +0.63%, S&P 500 +0.31%, Dow Jones +0.22% – after the indices recorded the worst week of 2023 due to accelerating inflation . This makes it reasonably certain that the Fed will continue with a still aggressive strategy against inflation, taking interest rates well above 5%, as already emerged, before the inflation number. Given the outlook, the two-year Treasury yield rose to 4.83%, the highest since July 2007.
Support comes from the data on orders for durable goods: in January they recorded a drop of 4.5% compared to the previous month to 272.3 billion dollars; expectations were for a 4% decline. The December figure was revised from +5.6% to +5.1%. A key measure for corporate investment, new orders for non-defense capital goods, excluding aviation, rose 1.1%.
Banks and Unicredit push Milan, eyes on Tim
Piazza Affari is mainly supported by banks, with Unicredit standing out with an increase of more than five points, thanks to the favorable opinion of Jefferies, who appreciates the moves of the managing director, Andrea Orcel. It also runs Banca Pop Er e Intesa Sanpaolo. Telecom Italia gains, while the market wonders about the future of the company, after the board of directors indicated that the proposal of KKR for the network, although interesting, is too low. Instead you realize on Saipem awaiting the 2022 accounts. Despite today’s decline, however, the prices boast a rise of 26.7% since the beginning of the year, recording a better performance than that of the general index (by around 15.8%). Outside the main basket, it shines Anima Holding after the purchase of 80% of Castello Sgr for 60 million.
UniCredit in light after Orcel roadshow in the USA
Returning to the Ftse Mib stocks, UniCredit is gaining ground after Jefferies analysts confirmed the “buy” recommendation in light of the roadshow conducted by CEO Andrea Orcel in New York. “Management continues to deliver a compelling message on how the shift in business approach (with a focus on revenues, operational efficiency and above all capital efficiency) is delivering payouts (literally) with a clear path for high, recurring and sustainable payouts in the coming years,” write the analysts. In the meantime, the bank is preparing for the appointment with the meeting at the end of March, which will also have to deliberate on the expected increase in Orcel’s salary.