“Milan Stock Exchange records a growth of 2.53%, while UBS achieves a profit of 8 billion francs.”

The European stock exchanges closed the session up sharply, after the reassurances of the central banks on the rescue of Credit Suisse by Ubs for 3 billion francs. Milan leads the patrol thanks to the good results of the banks. Ubs is also growing on the stock market, marking the most significant rise since March 2020. Investor attention is focused on the two-day Fed meeting and in particular on the announcement of the interest rate decision, expected for Wednesday 22 March. Fed Fund futures currently view a 25bp upside as likely at 76.8%, while maintaining the status quo is quoted at 23.2%. Uncertainty remains high nonetheless after the Credit Suisse bailout appears to have allayed fears of contagion, but the write-off of AT1 bonds is helping to stoke financial sector jitters. On the macro front, however, the most important data is the Zew index on confidence in Germany in March, expected to slow down to 17.1 points from 28.1 in February.

Ubs stock jumps on the stock market

Ubs flies to the Zurich stock exchange, with investors convinced that the Swiss institution has done a great deal in taking over Credit Suisse for three billion francs, after the cancellation of 16.3 billion high-risk bonds and the obtaining of guarantees for 9 billion on any losses that may emerge from the balance sheet of the “cousins”. The stock jumped today by 12.1% to 19.425 francs: in two sessions the capitalization increased by around 8 billion francs to 68.5 billion.

European stock markets recovering

Milan closes at +2.53%, with Frankfurt at +1.75%, London at +1.79% and Paris up at +1.42%. The lists are supported by the banking sector and by energy. European banks are flying after the crash of the previous sessions with fears of contagion risk caused by the events of American credit institutions and Credit Suisse. The Stoxx 600 banking sector index closed the session up by 7.31%. In the lead Commerzbank and Unicredit. Piazza Affari continues to run and leads the patrol of the other European stock exchanges thanks to bank stocks, with Unicredit (+6.96%), Fineco (+5.41%), Bper (+4.89%) and Mps (+2 .75%) leads the rises, together with Saipem (+7.57%), Tenaris (+3.36%) and Leonardo (+2.94%).

Positive closure for the Asian Stock Exchanges

Even the Asian stock markets – without Tokyo closed for holidays – closed the session in positive territory. At1 bonds issued by Asian banks rebounded to record highs after the previous day’s crash. Seoul closed at +0.4%. Hong Kong also finished the session higher: the Hang Seng index jumped by 1.36%, settling at 19,258.76 points.

Gold, oil and currencies

The prospect of a slowdown in the tightening of monetary policy by the US central bank penalizes the dollar and pushes gold higher. Spot delivery rose 0.2% to 1,982.29 dollars an ounce, while futures increased 0.1% to 1,984.30 dollars. After a declining opening, the price of oil is on the rise again: the WTI travels at 68.60 dollars per barrel (+1.4%) and the Brent at 74.65 dollars (+1.2%). Utilities are advancing (+1%), with gas below 40 euros per megawatt hour. In Amsterdam, prices have fallen by 48% since the beginning of the year. On the foreign exchange market, the euro rises to 1.0781 against the dollar.