Week without major twists for European stock markets, thanks to the holiday period and the few macroeconomic data capable of shifting investor sentiment. However, movements on the markets are noteworthy petrolium and of gas who pushed the energy stocks in Milan and beyond. Brent is now steadily moving above 76 euros a barrel, while the American WTI has exceeded 73 dollars a barrel. Gas also continued the bullish trend of recent weeks – +14% in the last two, reaching 50 EUR/MWh this week, the highest level in over a year –. While the disruption of residual flows of Russian gas through Ukraine was a factor, Goldman Sachs highlighted that the main factor tightening northwest European gas fundamentals this winter remains the colder-than-average weather currently forecast for the next two weeks, aided by low wind power and Norwegian production outages seen in December.
The macroeconomic framework
It was a week also characterized by indications coming from the manufacturing sector. THE’manufacturing PMI index of China, despite falling to 50.1 points from 50.3 in the previous month, still managed to remain above the 50 point threshold that separates growth from contraction: an indication that the Chinese economy is maintaining a growth rate moderately driven by the stimulus measures implemented by the Beijing authorities and by the third consecutive month of growth in industrial production. The data from the United States was also positive and exceeded analysts’ expectations for the sector: the ISM purchasing managers’ index stood at 49.3 points, compared to 48.4 points in the previous month, higher than expected of analysts who estimated a drop of up to 48.2 points.
Today’s session
They all close with the the markets of the Old Continent showed a negative sign. Frankfurt showed a decrease of 0.59%, a moderate contraction for London, which suffered a drop of 0.44%, and a terrible performance for Paris, which recorded a drop of 1.51%. Negative session also for Piazza Affari, with the FTSE MIB leaving 0.72% on the floor, breaking the positive chain of three consecutive increases that began last Friday. At the top of the most important shares in Milan, Saipem marks a good increase, reporting a +2.18% compared to the previous one.
The headlines of the week
The negative sales data in Italy in December, but more generally throughout 2024, penalized Stellantis which was among the worst in Milan in the last session of the week, closing at -3.52%. In December the group registered 24,411 units in Italy, down 18.1% compared to the previous year, also losing in terms of market share, which fell to 23.1% from 26.8% in December 2023. entire 2024, Stellantis registered 452,615 cars, down 9.9% compared to 502,546 in 2023 and the market share has shrunk to 29% from 32%.
The worst turned out to be Campari which closed at -5.21% after the publication of a report on the link between alcohol and carcinogenic risks by the White House public health advisor, Vivek Murthy. In the relationship Murthy highlighted that alcohol consumption in the United States is “the third cause of cancer, after tobacco and obesity”, suggesting, in particular, to highlight these risks on the labels of alcoholic products and urging a change in regulations and a greater public awareness.
