Today’s stock markets, February 27th. Markets cautious awaiting US inflation. Bitcoin soars to 57 thousand dollars

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MILANO – The belief among operators that the Fed can cut the cost of money is waning and uncertainty is being felt on the markets, awaiting the PCE inflation data (the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure) arriving on Thursday. Lastly, the governor of the Kansas City Fed, President Jeffrey R. Schmid, spoke and called for patience in cutting rates as long as inflation remains above the 2% target and the job market is so strong. He continues the placement of the new BTP Valore, with strong demand also on the second day. Mention for Bitcoin, which sees 57 thousand for the first time since the end of 2021: the growth of the queen of digital currencies reaches a third this year, driven by the turning point marked with the approval by the SEC of ETFs on spot Bitcoin which they have raised over $5.6 billion from investors.

16:12

Europe cautious ahead after Wall Street

European stock markets remain cautious after the uncertain start on Wall Street, whose indices fluctuate around parity after the first trading. Frankfurt rose by 0.5%, Paris and Milan by 0.2% while London fell by 0.1%. Government bonds were also flat, with the BTP-Bund spread unchanged at 144 basis points and the yield on the Italian 10-year bond stable at 3.88%. Investors are waiting for some important macro data to figure out the trajectory of rates, such as the PCE deflator, the Fed’s preferred price indicator on Thursday, and preliminary Eurozone inflation in February. Campari stands out in Piazza Affari (+4.6%), following its 2023 results, ahead of Saipem (+4%), Erg (+2%) and STM (+1.9%). Utilities performed well while banks and managed savings suffered: Banca Generali lost 1.7%, Banco Bpm 1.6%, Bper 1.5% and MPS 1.4%.

15:39

Wall Street starts slowly

Flat opening on Wall Street, after yesterday’s slightly declining session and last week’s records. This week, the focus will be on the PCE index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, scheduled for Thursday. Analysts expect the index to show monthly inflation rising – 0.3% in January after 0.2% in December, with the core figure expected to rise from 0.2% in December to 0.4 % – a reminder of the long and difficult path to bring inflation back to the 2% annual target set by the Fed; annual figure expected to decline slightly from 2.6% to 2.4%, with the ‘core’ slowing from 2.9% to 2.8%.

14:47

Macy’s will close 150 stores: it will focus on the high end

Macy’s said it plans to close 150 unproductive locations of the department store chain and is focusing on products from its high-end brands. Bloomberg reports it. The company did not provide an estimate of how many employees will be affected by the closures, which represent nearly a third of U.S. Macy’s stores and will occur over the next three years. Many stores are close together, which could allow some workers to relocate. Macy’s also plans to add 15 new Bloomingdalès and 30 Bluemercury locations by 2026, an effort to accelerate growth of its high-end brands.

14:45

Yellen supports the idea of ​​using assets frozen from Russia for Ukraine

Janet Yellen offers her support for using Russian funds frozen in the West for Ukraine. “It is necessary and urgent for our coalition to find ways to unlock the value of these assets in support of Ukraine,” Yellen said on the sidelines of the G20 Economy Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Sao Paulo. “I believe there are strong international law, economic and moral reasons to move forward. This would be a decisive response to Russia’s unprecedented threat to global stability,” Yellen adds, according to US media reports.

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14:45

USA, orders for durable goods collapse: -6.1% in January

In January, new orders for manufacturing durable goods in the United States fell 6.1% from the previous month, the highest since April 2020 and above market expectations of a 4.5% decline. The decline follows that of 0.3% recorded in December. Excluding transportation, new orders fell 0.3%. Excluding defense, new orders fell 7.3%. Transportation equipment, also down for three of the last four months, led the decline, $17.4 billion or 16.2%, to $89.8 billion.

14:17

Yellen: “Global growth stronger than expected”

“Over the past year, global growth has been resilient and stronger than expected.” US Treasury Secretary Yellen said this at a press conference in Sao Paulo

13:40

Europe little moved

European stock markets continue at a slow pace, without finding ideas to move in a specific direction. Milan rises by 0.1%, Paris and Amsterdam are on par, Frankfurt grows by 0.4% after slightly improving consumer confidence data, London (-0.13%) and Madrid (-0.6%) they fall further behind.

12:13

EU stock markets rise cautiously mid-session

At the end of the morning the European stock markets, after an uncertain start, were positive, with the exception of Madrid which lost 0.66%. Frankfurt did very well, gaining 0.43% after the data on German consumer confidence, while Paris and London were just above parity. Milan advances by 0.12%

11:53

Bots, 5 billion placed at auction

The Treasury placed 5 billion euros of annual BOTs with a residual life of 6 and 7 months respectively in two separate auctions. The first for 2.5 billion concerns the third tranche of Treasury bonds expiring on 13 September 2024. The yield obtained is 3.769%. The second auction, also for 2.5 billion euros, is the third tranche of the Bots expiring on 14 October 2024. The rate is 3.750%.

11:52

Campari, growing revenues. The dividend rises

Campari closed 2023 with net sales of 2,918.6 million, with a total change of +8.2%. Organic growth was +10.5% during the year thanks to the sustained dynamics of the brands, in particular aperitifs, tequila and premium bourbon. Adjusted net profit of 390.4 million is up by +0.7% while net profit of 330.5 million is down by 0.7%. The proposed dividend for the financial year is 0.065 euros per share, an increase of 8.3% compared to the previous year.

11:09

Dbrs confirms Italy’s rating, stable outlook

The Dbrs Morningstar agency confirms the BBB (high) rating for Italy with a stable trend. This is what is reported in the “Global 2024 Sovereign Credit Ratings Outlook” in which Dbrs explains that “the risks for credit ratings are balanced” and that “the support impulse deriving from the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in the coming years will probably attenuate the slowdown in the economy mainly linked to the tightening of monetary policy.”

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10:39

Positive closing for Shanghai and Shenzhen

The session closed on the rise for the Asian stock exchanges on the continent, with the Shanghai Composite gaining 1.29% to 3,015.48 points and the Shenzhen Component gaining 2.24% to 9,269.57 points. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also rose, advancing by 0.94% to 16,790.8 points. On Wall Street on Monday the S&P 500 slipped 0.4% to 5,069.53 points after closing last week at historic highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 39,069.23 points and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1% to 15,976.25 points.

09:51

Slight increase for the spread

Slight increase for the spread between Italian and German government bonds, which starts at 147 points, marking +0.25%. The yield on 10-year BTPs is +3.87%, that on 10-year Bunds is +2.41%.

09:49

German consumer confidence rises, France declines

Mixed signals from confidence indicators. GfK consumer ratings for Germany recovered to -29 points ahead of March 2024 from February’s 11-month low (-29.6), in line with market forecasts. Income expectations – according to what Gfk Group reports – have reached the highest level of the last two years (-4.8 against -20 in February), while the propensity to purchase (-15 against -14.8) and the economic prospects (-6.4 versus -6.6) remained unchanged. Meanwhile, the propensity to save rose to its highest level since June 2008 (17.4 against 14). “In recent times, the prospects for the German economy have become increasingly pessimistic”, declared Rolf Burkl, consumer expert at NIM, for whom “a rapid recovery in consumer activity cannot be expected amid higher prices and weaker economic forecasts for this year.” In France, however, French household confidence began to deteriorate again in February after several months of improvement, falling by two points in the month to 89, well below its historical average of 100. According to the national statistics institute Insee , in the second month of the year, the percentage of families who “believe that prices will accelerate” in the next twelve months recorded a strong rebound (+7 points), while the percentage of families who believe “it is appropriate to make major purchases” suffered a sharp decline (-5 points).

09:49

EU made little move at the start

Uneventful start for European stock markets. Paris records a -0.04% with the Cac 40 at 7,926 points. Frankfurt is at +0.05% with the Dax at 17,431 points. London also opens little changed with the Ftse 100 at +0.06% and 7,689 points.

09:48

Departure on the rise for Piazza Affari

An upward start for Piazza Affari with the Ftse Mib marking +0.29% at 32,561 points. Among the best stocks are Stmicroelectronics +1.45%, Ferrari +1.07%, Erg +1.04%, Prysmian +0.84%. On the other hand, Campari -0.92%, Banca Mediolanum -0.72%, Amplifon -0.72%, Diasorin -0.67% fell.

07:59

Wall Street, weak closing yesterday

Yesterday, a slightly declining session on WallStreet, after Friday’s record close for the Dow Jones and S&P 500. Last week was very positive for all three major indices, which recorded their sixth positive week out of the last seven. This week, the focus will be on the PCE index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, scheduled for Thursday. Analysts expect the index to show monthly inflation rising – 0.3% in January after 0.2% in December, with the ‘core’ figure expected to rise from 0.2% in December to 0.4 % – a reminder of the long and difficult path to bring inflation back to the 2% annual target set by the fed; annual figure expected to decline slightly from 2.6% to 2.4%, with the ‘core’ slowing from 2.9% to 2.8%.

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07:42

Prysmian, 1.9 billion order for the Scotland-England cable

Prysmian has finalized the contract relating to the order worth approximately 1.9 billion euros awarded by Eastern Green Link 2 Limited, a joint venture between Ssen Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission plc, owners of the electricity transmission systems in Great Britain. As part of the contract, Prysmian will supply an important high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable system for the development of the Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) network which will connect Scotland and England. This was announced in a company note.

07:42

Asian stock markets, Chinese ones doing well. Tokyo retouches the record

Positive Asian markets with Tokyo seeing the Nikkei index close with just +0.01% at 39,239 points, a partial advantage however in renewing its historical record. The Topix index of the Japanese stock exchange closed the second weekly session with a +0.18% at 2,678 points. As regards the Chinese stock markets, we are witnessing a rebound in Shanghai (+0.88%), awaiting the February readings of the Chinese PMIs, which will be used to evaluate whether the signs of recovery, seen with the consumption data for the week of Lunar New Year will also be confirmed by Dragon companies. The cooling of tech stocks, on the other hand, is holding back Hong Kong which is moving on parity (+0.06%), while Seoul’s Kospi index falls to between 0.83% despite the South Korean government’s recent announcement of policies to support capital markets of the country.

07:41

The price of oil rises

Oil prices rising on Asian markets. WTI crude futures rise to 77.75 dollars per barrel (+0.22%) while Brent futures gain 0.18% to 81.88 dollars. Crude oil prices rise on the risk of disruptions to maritime transport due to the crisis in the Red Sea: over the weekend, Houthi rebels in Yemen almost hit a US oil tanker. In response, the United States and the United Kingdom bombed several Houthi rebel positions in Yemen on Saturday, the two nations’ fourth joint operation against the Iran-backed group. The situation on the Middle Eastern front remains high-tension, with the Israeli army launching air strikes near the Lebanese city of Baalbek, the deepest attack in Lebanon since the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has announced that a ceasefire in Gaza could begin with Ramadan.

07:38

Uncertain EU future

A negative start to the session is announced for the main European stock markets, with investors’ eyes focused on the preliminary reading of Eurozone inflation on Friday, which will be anticipated on Thursday by the price readings in the most important European countries. At this point, however, the market considers the prospect of a rate cut in May or June by the Fed to be less likely, in the presence of increasingly clear signs of inflation that shows no signs of decreasing. The Dax future drops by 0.15%, that of the Ftse 100 drops by 0.18% while for the Euro Stoxx 50 we are at -0.21%.