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Across Europe indices are down today as market participants hold back in the hours before the U.S. Federal Reserve’s announcement on interest rate hikes into 2017. That rates will be upped by 0.25% now is not in question but whether there will be an additional one or two hikes over the course of 2017 is the information that is being waiting for before by markets decide upon their final pre-Christmas and New Year trajectories.
In Rome, the FTSE MIB is down 0.7% today. While most of the banks are down, led by UniCredit with a 6.55% loss, Banca Pop Milano and Banco Populare are up, 1.27% and 1.67% respectively, the inverse of yesterday’s divergence. UniCredit had seen a sharp rise over Monday and Tuesday and despite today’s drop the bank’s share price is still higher than it has been since late June. Mediaset is again up, 4.58% today. Berlusconi’s commercial broadcaster, Italy’s largest, is the subject of a supposed aggressive takeover bid by France’s Vivendi, which recently acquired a 12% of Mediaset’s shares, a stake it intends to increase to 20%. Vivendi’s 12% make’s the company Mediaset’s second largest shareholder behind Finivest. Finivest, controlled by the Berlusconi family, in turn moved to acquire an additional 27.6 million shares in Mediaset with an option to acquire another 14 million today, which would take its control of voting rights to a fraction under 40%.
Elsewhere, Italgas is up 2.49% and investment vehicle Exor 1.04% and oil and gas industry contractor Saipem follow’s yesterday’s positive showing with another gain today, 1.38% to the good.
Amsterdam’s AEX is faring better than its European index peers with a marginal loss of 0.06% at present. Digital security firm Gemalto is the company having the most positive session with a current gain of 2.71%. The company is currently in the process of buying the biometrics division of 3M, a suite of products it will add to its current identity verification solutions. Groceries retailer Ahold Delhaize is also ahead of the curve with a gain of 1.69%. Sitting on a cash pile, the company recently announced it intends to buy back $1.1 billion of the company’s shares as well as make significant investment into its online offerings.
Insurer ING has so far sustained the day’s biggest losses though, despite that unwanted tag, is down a relatively modest 1.14%. Insurance peer Aegon is also down though by 0.31% only, while the third insurance company on the AEX, NN Group, has bucked that trend and is up 0.22%. Telecom DSM is down 0.96%.
