Table of Contents:
Positive trend of European stock exchanges
The Old Continent stock exchanges closed positively, in a context of waiting for the decisions of the European Central Bank (ECB). The Ftse Mib in Piazza Affari finished at 36,429 points, an increase of 0.16%. This performance was supported by purchases in securities such as Iveco Group and Campari, both up 1.6%. However, not all the news was positive: Stm fell sharply by 10.75% following disappointing financial results and an unencouraging outlook
.
The decisions of the ECB and inflation
The ECB has decided to lower the deposit rate by 25 basis points, bringing it to 2.75%. This intervention was justified by progress in inflation, but President Christine Lagarde warned that it is premature to discuss the neutral rate. The ECB stressed the importance of a data-based approach, suggesting that further cuts could be considered at upcoming meetings. This has generated expectations of a possible easing of monetary policy, positively affecting bond markets
.
Economic data and future prospects
In conjunction with the decisions of the ECB, data on the eurozone’s gross domestic product (GDP) were published, which showed an unexpected stagnation in the fourth quarter of 2024, with zero growth for Italy and contractions in Germany and France. In the United States, GDP grew by 2.3%, but below expectations. Investors are now turning their attention to the quarterly reports of large technology companies, with particular interest in the results of Apple and Intel, after the mixed results of Microsoft,
Meta and Tesla.
Commodity markets and currencies
In the commodities market, Brent oil has recovered ground, reaching 76.3 dollars per barrel, while gold is approaching 2,800 dollars an ounce. On the currency front, the euro remained stable against the dollar at 1.043, while the dollar/yen showed a decline to 154.2. Bitcoin also surpassed 105,800 dollars, continuing to show signs of recovery in the cryptocurrency market
.
