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(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) Caution returns to prevail on European stock markets, after last week’s good performance. Investors prefer to adopt a cautious attitude, despite Wall Street updating new highs last Friday with the indices for Dow Jones and S&P 50. Moreover, the quarterly reporting season is in full swing and in addition important macro data will be released in the next few days, such as the PMI indices which highlight the performance of manufacturing and tertiary activities. Operators are also attentive to wars and in particular to developments in the complex situation in the Middle East. Also for this reason the value of gold remains at record levels: the precious metal for immediate delivery (Gold spot) changes hands at 2,725.78 dollars, with an advance of 0.16% after reaching the record at 2,734.60 dollars while gold for delivery in December (Comex) is traded at 2,741.70 dollars with growth of 0.43%. At an international level, operators are trying to understand the impact it will have on the Chinese economy the People’s Bank of China’s decision to reduce key interest rates on loansreaching new lows. Milano defends its positions, after having risen by 2.6% in the last quarter, reaching levels it has not seen since May (the ftse Mib exceeded the sogia of 35 thousand points).
Spread in area 118 points after Fitch decision on outlook
Lo spread stands at around 118 points, a very slight increase compared to the 117 points at Friday’s closing when during the session it dropped to the minimum level since the end of October 2021. yield of the benchmark ten-year BTp scored a first position at 3.38%, slightly up compared to the 3.36% of the closing date the day before. They arrived late Friday evening the opinions of the rating agencies S&P and Fitch on Italy who confirmed the rating. Plus Fitch raised the outlook from stable to positiveto reflect “the fact that the recent strengthening of budgetary outcomes and commitment to comply with the European Union’s fiscal rules indicate a potential reduction in medium-term budgetary and financing risks arising from the exceptionally high levels of Italian debt”. The agency also highlighted “signs of stronger potential growth and a more stable political context”.
Expectations rise for SMEs, production prices fall in Germany
In Europe, expectations are already rising for the PMI indices, which measure the performance of manufacturing and services activity in the month of October, precursors of the European economic situation. The data will be announced on Thursday. Meanwhile, today it emerged that in Germany the producer prices of industrial products fell by 1.4% per year last September. As of August 2024, the year-over-year rate of change was -0.8%. The Federal Bureau of Statistics (Destatis) also reported that producer prices in September 2024 decreased by 0.5% compared to August 2024. Analysts are also attentive to the decision announced by China’s central bank, the People’s Bank, to reduce rates. In detail, the reference rate for most loans to businesses and families, the one-year loan prime rate (LPR), was reduced by 25 basis points from 3.35% to 3.1%, while the five-year, a benchmark for real estate mortgages, was reduced by the same margin from 3.85% to 3.6%.
Weak banks in Milan, Azimut in the spotlight
The banking sector is weakened by the news according to which, as Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Saturday 19 October, the European Central Bank, as part of the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (Srep), intends to ask banks for more moderation in the distributions of dividends and buybacks. The spotlight then remains on Unicredit,given that, according to press rumours, the German government is working to hinder the deal with CommerzBank. Shares in the oil sector are well oriented, although they did poorly last week. Saipem rises by more than 1%. It stands out at the top of the list Azimuth. Try to raise your head Moncler after the mega event organized last Saturday in Shanghai.
Oil and gas on the rise, the euro-dollar is sluggish
On the energy front, the price of oil is rising, with North Sea Brent, the December contract, at 73.3 dollars a barrel (+0.37%) and WTI at 69.7 dollars (+0.68 %). Natural gas traded in Amsterdam rose slightly at 39.5 euros per mwh (+0.89%). On the currency market, the euro fell slightly against the dollar and traded at 1.0857.
