The Milan Stock Exchange today experienced a schizophrenic session and the final figure hides some tragedies among the titles. On the one hand some blue chips have risen between 4% and 6%, on the other some stocks have literally sunk. Today there is a dramatic collapse in Piazza Affari of two stocks while alarming is a fact that is soaring, that of the spread.
The ECB does not heat the stock exchanges
Apparently today seems to have been a quiet session for the Milan Stock Exchange, looking at the result. The same could also be said of the markets of the Old Continent. Piazza Affari reported a slight rise while the European stock exchanges suffered fractional falls.
In Europe today was the day of the ECB meeting. The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged, but this was taken for granted. It was less obvious to understand what the ECB’s next moves were to counteract the fast-growing inflation. The orientation of the European Central Bank is to consider the current rise in prices as temporary, which should soon reduce.
The ECB’s decision did not heat up EU markets that much. The German stock exchange lost less than 0.1%, the same result as the London stock exchange. The Euro Stoxx 50 index closed up 0.3% while Paris closed with a gain of over 0.7%.
Two economic data warm Wall Street
Europe today did not manage to stay hooked to the US train which started up again. At the time of the closure of the European stock exchanges, the three US indices were at their all-time highs. The Nasdaq was even up by over a percentage point. US traders celebrated two dips. The weekly claims for unemployment benefits fell compared to the previous week and the quarterly GDP figure to 2.0%, lower than expected.
But why are the stock exchanges rising with GDP lower than expected? For two reasons. The first is that the market still preferred to look at the glass as half full. A quarterly growth of 2% is still a good result. Furthermore, the not too robust growth could suggest to the US Central Bank not to anticipate the tapering. In other words, not to reduce the quantity of government bonds repurchased on the market.
Dramatic collapse in Piazza Affari of two stocks while alarming a figure that rises
In spite of the modest rise, everything has happened in Piazza Affari today among the blue chips. The Ftse Mib index (INDEX:FTSEMIB) gained 0.3% to close at 26,890 points but 5 blue chips gained more than 2%. STM jumped more than 6.4%, thanks to the quarterly results. Too bad that two stocks have literally collapsed with falls close to 10%. The quarterly results plunged Saipem 10% while Nexi lost 9%, after yesterday losing 6%.
But the troubles don’t end there for the stock market. Today the spread, the differential between German ten-year bonds and Italian BTPs, jumped to an annual high and then closed at 113 points. A leap that worries savers.
Deepening
The point about the markets
