EU stock markets uncertain; Moderna soars on Wall Street. Gold rallies as the US Treasury buys back its own bonds
On Wall Street, the US pharmaceutical company’s share price has surged by over 100 per cent following the results of its melanoma vaccine trial. In Milan, MPS could be considering two public offers for Banco BPM and Banca Generali. The euro is approaching $1.17. Spot gold is hovering around $4,500 per ounce.
Le ultime da Radiocor
***Oro: rimbalza su calo Treasury e discesa dollaro, +2,8% contratto spot a 4.456$
***Mps: posticipato al 25 agosto incontro Giorgetti e Enti locali su futuro banca
Borsa: Europa debole a meta' seduta, a Milano (-0,1%) focus su Stellantis e banche
(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) – A cautious trading session for European stock markets, as investors assess the impact of therise in sovereign debt yields, . In this regard, the US Treasury has announced that it will at least double the scale of its buy-back operations designed to support the liquidity of longer-dated nominal bonds. Following the announcement, Treasury yields immediately fell sharply, having risen on Tuesday to a 20-year high of 5.3371 per cent. The FTSE MIB in Milan is trading close to parity, in line with the other major European indices.
On the geopolitical front, there is still concern over tensions in the Middle East, where there are fears of a further escalation : US President Donald Trump has stated that no talks with Iran are currently taking place, nor are any planned. The US President has also described the Strait of Hormuz as ‘new US territory’, whilst, according to the Financial Times, Tehran is reportedly prepared to strike US military targets in Europe as well.
Wall Street: Moderna shares soar following news of new vaccine results
Wall Street is trading higher, with slight gains across the main indices. Investors are awaiting, this evening, the publication of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting, from which they hope to gain clarity on the central bank’s intentions regarding interest rates, particularly now that inflationary fears have been reignited due to rising energy prices. On the corporate front, shares in Moderna soared from the very start of trading after an experimental melanoma vaccine developed with Merck (up around 10 per cent) showed positive results in a late-stage trial involving over 1,100 patients. On the other hand, technology stocks linked to OpenAI are under scrutiny. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources, that the company’s second-quarter results, whilst showing an 18 per cent increase in revenue compared with the first quarter, revealed rising losses.
In Milan, the focus is on the banking sector; moves by MPS are expected
On the Milan stock exchange, all eyes are also on the key players in the banking crisis: According to an article in *Il Sole 24 Ore*, written by editor-in-chief Fabio Tamburini, the CEO of Banca Monte Paschi Siena, Luigi Lovaglio, may present two extraordinary transactions to the bank’s board of directors to counter the public takeover bid launched by Intesa Sanpaolo for Rocca Salimbeni. These consist of a public takeover offer for Banco Bpm and one on Banca Generali. The MPS board of directors has been convened for tomorrow.
“In our view, the strategic alternatives under consideration involve a significantly higher level of complexity and execution risk than Intesa’s bid,” comment the analysts at Equita. In particular, MPS ‘would find itself having to manage, in parallel, the completion of the integration of Mediobanca and further large-scale transactions, significantly increasing the execution risk compared with that associated with Intesa’s offer’, all the more so given that “the success of these transactions would depend on the involvement and consent of key parties, including Crédit Agricole, Generali and MPS’s major shareholders, as well as on obtaining numerous regulatory approvals and overcoming the constraints arising from the passivity rule”.
