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European stock exchanges close higher
Today’s session saw a positive trend for European stock exchanges, with the Ftse Mib in Piazza Affari recording an increase of 0.72%, closing at 36,112.84 points. Among the stocks in evidence, Unicredit gained 2.5%, followed by Snam with 2.1% and Bper with 2.4%.
On the contrary, some stocks such as Ferrari and Campari showed signs of retreat, by -1.8% and -1.1% respectively.
Focus on Trump and his trade policies
A key element that influenced the markets was Donald Trump‘s intervention from the World Economic Forum in Davos. Investors are carefully considering his next trade policy moves. Trump has promised swift action to address public spending and announced his intention to impose tariffs on countries such as China, the European Union, Mexico and Canada. In addition, it called on OPEC nations to reduce oil prices to combat inflation and facilitate interest rate cuts
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Economic data and future forecasts
From a macroeconomic point of view, data on claims for unemployment benefits have been published, which showed 223,000 new applications, higher than the 220,000 expected. Continuous requests reached a three-year high, reaching 1.9 million.
In addition, the eurozone consumer confidence index registered a value of -14.2 points, slightly below the estimates of -14.1.
Waiting for further developments, investors are looking with interest at the PMI indices scheduled for tomorrow.
On bonds, the Btp-Bund spread got closer to 110 basis points, with the Italian bond at 3.64% and the German one at 2.54%.
Commodities and currencies
As far as raw materials are concerned, Brent oil fluctuates around 79 dollars per barrel, pending EIA data on US inventories. Gold remains stable at 2,750 dollars an ounce. In the currency market, the euro/dollar is trading at 1.04, while the dollar/yen stands at 156, pending tomorrow’s BoJ meeting. Finally, Bitcoin continues to travel around 105 thousand dollars.
