Ioannis Glinavos via Macropolis | Greece is heading for a general election on July 7. A great part of the political narrative around this election is a confrontation between a supposedly fantastical leftist alternative and a mature, European direction for Greece. The former is represented by Alexis Tsipras and SYRIZA, while the latter is allegedly promised by Kyriakos Mitsotakis and New Democracy.
Morgan Stanley | We reduced our estimates of EBITDA FY19 for Acerinox by 7%, by reducing our estimates between 2Q-4T as a result of the loss in the revaluation of inventories.
BME | The market value of the treasury shares plus the amortizations made by these companies during the year reached 6,621 million euros in December, 9.9% more than in 2017.
David F. Lafferty (Natixis) | Christine Lagarde’s appointment was somewhat of surprise where few economists predicted her to take the helm of the ECB. This gives some indication of how complex the negotiations were for the new EC governing positions.
J.L.M. Campuzano (AEB) | The European Central Bank released the data of the M3 and its counterparts in the euro area until May. The intermediate liquidity objective maintains its annual evolution stable by 4.8%, supported by a strong increase of 7.2% in cash and demand deposits. The rest of its components, such as deposits and market instruments, maintain marginal growth.
Mapfre (MAP) said this week that the acquisition, which had already been announced in January, of 50.1% of a new insurance broker from Banco Santander through its subsidiary Mapfre España has been completed, pending the corresponding authorisations. The broker will commercialise insurance for cars, multi-risk trade, multi-risk SMEs and civil responsability exclusively for Santander´s network in Spain.
Sabadell revised all the forecasts and objective prices for the companies they cover and highlight their favourite shares in their portfolios (model, 5 value portfolio, high yield and SME portfolio). Although they do not change their recommendations, they significantly revise the valuation of Cellnex (+15%), Sacyr (+15%), Iberdrola (+13%), FCC (-7%), Unicaja (-7%), Caixabank (-8%), Liberbank (-13%), Bankia (-14%) and Arcelor (-22%).
More than two months after the elections, the European Council agreed on the future leadership of the EU institutions. Spanish Foreign minister Josep Borrell will be the next foreign policy chief; Ursula von der Leyen will lead the Commission; Charles Michel, the Council and Christine Lagarde will be the next ECB head.
Masja Zandbergen (Robeco) | With the rise and rise of new sustainable funds, the question of how to avoid greenwashing becomes more prevalent, and there is a lot of attention in the media for this. SRI labels are popping up and the EU is in the process of defining an ecolabel. Whereas in the past a fund would simply be labeled (Socially) Responsible or not, the market is now distinguishing between different ways of implementing sustainability.
David Brett (Schroders) | It could be said that the main barometer for Brexit if the value of sterling. Since the withdrawal referendum, the British currency has fallen more than 14% compared to the dollar and 13% compared to the euro.