In Milan, a rain of sales on the banks, in particular on Unicrediteven if the worst is yet again Telecom Italia, which collapses by 16% after accounts and plan; strong sales also onIntesa Sanpaolo e Banco Bpmas well as on Stellantis. You save the utilities with Snam Rete Gas e Terna.
Finally, the currency market: the single currency slips below the threshold of 1.10 dollars for the first time since May 2020. It finally closes at 1.091 (1.102 at the start and 1.1076 yesterday at closing) and at 125.3 yen (from 128 , 18). The dollar / yen exchange rate is at 114.78 (from 115.49).
Record gas, also breaks through the 200 euro quota
Record values for natural gas prices in Europe: on the Ttf platform the contract expiring in April is traded at 202.4 euros per megawatt hour, up 25.8% with yesterday’s closing and the May expiry moves in the same way measures at 196 euros per megawatt hour. During the day yesterday, prices had only touched 200 euros, now broken through with the continuous worsening of the Ukrainian crisis.
US jobs better than expected, Wall Street in red
Session down for Wall Street after February’s positive US employment report. Concerns are too strong for the latest events in Ukraine: the Russian military offensive continues and the Muscovite forces have captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which was bombed during the night. A fire broke out, a much more serious disaster than that of Chernobyl was feared for a few hours, then the Kiev authorities made it known that the plant was safe; reassurances also from the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency: “There has been no release of radioactive material”. As mentioned, the February employment report was expected: last month 678,000 jobs were gained (excluding agriculture) compared to the previous month, while analysts expected an increase of 440,000 jobs. The January figure was revised from 467,000 to 481,000, the December figure from 510,000 to 588,000, for an overall addition in the previous two months of 92,000 jobs. Unemployment fell from 4% to 3.8%, the best figure since the start of the pandemic, against expectations for a drop to 3.9%.
Russia, S&P cuts sovereign rating. Moscow Exchange remains closed
Meanwhile, S&P also cut Russia’s rating to “CCC-“, held in CreditWatch Negative, due to the growing default risk. Already Moody’s and Fitch, the other two global rating agencies of reference, had already placed the Russian rating at “junk” level for the risk of non-repayment of debt exposures. . The Bank of Russia has made it known. The Russian square was already closed since the beginning of the week (March 4 is the fifth day of stoppage, a record) due to the worsening of the conflict in Ukraine and in an attempt to avoid a financial meltdown, given the dramatic drops recorded by shares in the first days of war.
–
