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(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) – The European stock markets – after closing the first session of December with a plus sign – closed subdued at the beginning of the week, held back by the energy and raw materials sectors. The indices moved little, starting with the FTSE MIB in Milan: no shocks for the CAC 40 in Paris, the DAX 40 in Frankfurt, the FT-SE 100 in London, the IBEX 35 in Madrid and the AEX in Amsterdam.
The slowdown in inflation in the Eurozone and the United States encourages investors, who are aiming for a rate cut in 2024, but the line of the president of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, remains cautious, in the belief that it is premature to say with certainty that the rate hike is over. News has arrived from Asia that the hearing on the liquidation of Evergrande, the real estate giant crushed by debt, has been postponed until next year.
Milan without ideas, MPS still doing well, oil companies bringing up the rear
As regards securities, the Ftse Mib has not recorded any particular shocks: among the best are Nexi and Banca Mps: the institution’s capital ratios as of 30 September are already above the requirements requested by the ECB for 2024. Instead, they have oil companies Saipem, Tenaris and Eni and the automotive sector (in particular Pirelli & C, CNH Industrial, Ferrari) suffered throughout the day. Also in red are Leonardo – Finmeccanica and Interpump Group, which had highlighted themselves in the last few sessions. Outside the main list, Casta Diva Group accelerates, after the publication of the plan for 2026, and Officina Stellare also sprints, after the contract with the American Photo-Sonics for a project with the US Defense.
Euro weak, oil falling. The spread is in the 175 area
On the currency market, the euro weakens and drops back to near 1.08 dollars. The euro/yen exchange rate is at 158 (from 161.43 on Friday), while the dollar/yen exchange rate is at 147. Natural gas traded in Amsterdam is falling and stands at around 40 euros per megawatt hour and oil is falling with January WTI just above 73 dollars a barrel and February Brent just below the threshold of 78 dollars a barrel. The spread between BTp and Bund stands at 175 basis points from 174 points on Friday.
Wall Street down. Spotify leap after cuts
Wall Street closes negative. The Dow Jones falls by 0.11% to 36,204.44 points, the Nasdaq drops by 0.84% to 14,185.49 points while the S&P 500 drops by 0.54% to 4,569.78 points. Attention remains on the Fed’s next decisions on interest rates, scheduled for next week: on the last two occasions, rates were confirmed at 5.25%-5.5%. Traders no longer believe that interest rates can be raised any further and are betting on a first rate cut as early as March. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said it was “premature to say with certainty” that the process of raising interest rates is over. For Powell, then, “it is too early” to say when the Central Bank will begin to lower rates; on the contrary, it could still raise them if necessary to bring down inflation. Today’s attention is on gold, which recorded a new record above 2,152 dollars per ounce, and bitcoin, which exceeded the 40,000 dollar threshold for the first time since May 2022, even going above 42,000 dollars. In the week that has just begun, attention will be paid in particular to the employment report, scheduled for Friday.