Dax30, Ftse100, SP500, Market View

The American indexes closed higher once again, prolonging the denominated Trump Rally. Last week, this upward movement seems to have entered a new phase. In the weeks following the US presidential election, stock indexes were favored by the positive expectations which investors drew from the measures that the Trump administration is willing to introduce. But more recently, equity markets seem to have entered into more of a dynamic, driven by more intrinsic factors. In an initial phase the Trump Rally was received with surprise and later with skepticism. However, as US indexes hit new highs in succession, many fund managers are forced to increase exposure to the stock market, otherwise they will underperform against their benchmark.

Political developments in Italy will dominate the attention of investors. Yesterday, the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella appointed Paolo Gentiloni as the future Prime Minister. To justify this choice are, among other arguments, the fact that he had a prominent position in the previous executive and of being a person with good relations with the different institutions of the European Union. This latter quality is particularly important considering that the first dossier that the new government will have to solve is the Monte dei Paschi di Siena issue. The solution through public intervention is the most likely from the investors’ point of view.

Although investors are currently focused on the Italian political situation and on the economic prospects that the future Trump administration has created, China remains a relevant variable for the activity of several European companies. In the third quarter of this year, European companies saw a 6.10% drop in profits. However, most analysts estimate earnings growth in 2017 (between 6% and 14%). To this end, emerging markets are an important variable, accounting for 31% of their revenues (compared to 17% of their US counterparts).

In the pre-opening, the European indices have declined slightly. The banking sector will again be in focus. In the last two months, there has been a profound change in investor sentiment in this sector. At the end of the third quarter, given the uncertainties of Deutche Bank and the Italian banking system, there was a certain pessimism about the European banking sector. These factors were compounded by weak prospects for profitability as a result of the increasing and severe regulations, the low level of interest rates and the modest growth of the Euro Zone. As a result of all this, the exposure of institutional investors to the sector was the lowest in recent years. The rise in European yields and the increased risk appetite triggered by the US elections, among other factors, have altered investors’ perceptions. At a conference recently held by UBS, most investors believe that bank shares will be the best-looking investment in Europe in 2017 and the sector is the one with the highest profit-making potential.

As expected, the Fed raised benchmark rates by 0.25% for the range of 0.50% to 0.75%. This decision had already been anticipated and investors’ attention therefore fell on individual projections for future interest rate increases. On average, Fed members anticipate three key rate hikes in 2017, two in 2018 and three in 2019.

The overperformance of cyclical stocks in relation to more defensive stocks has peaked since the beginning of this Bull Market in 2009. One of the causes of the rally in European markets (in addition to the favorable influence of the American markets) has been the strong appreciation of the banking sector. Within this sector the protagonist has been the Italian banking sector which has shown remarkable resilience to a number of negative factors such as the outcome of the referendum and capital increases of Unicredit and Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

US markets closed without major fluctuations, with volume boosted by the maturity of futures and options. However, the news of the seizure of an American drone by China has led to a more defensive stance on the part of investors. This more prudent position translated into a purchase of state bonds, which simultaneously caused the yields to fall. The decline in state yields, which hit the highs this year, boosted interest-sensitive sectors such as real estate and utilities, which prevented major indexes from suffering further losses.

Yesterday the main event of the day was the intervention of Janet Yellen at the University of Baltimore. The President of the Fed stated that the current phase of the labor market is the strongest in the last decade and that it is beginning to see an acceleration in wage growth. With a 4.70% unemployment rate and the economy running at full employment, it becomes increasingly difficult to find workers (especially for those jobs that require more skills), which forces employers to pay higher wages.

Today, a session with a reduced volume should be attended, and so, the lack of liquidity could generate some more pronounced movements. The Dow Jones test at 20,000 points will be the main theme of the day. Also to be added that the US oil reserves will be published at 3.30 pm.

Despite all the financial media coverage of the Dow Jones’ 20,000 points, investors have been pausing in recent days, resulting in a period of consolidation. The year can be considered ended and can also be considered a good year. Faced with a series of unpredictable events, such as Brexit and Donald Trump’s victory, and how the year started (with a strong correction due to the devaluation of the Chinese currency) to achieve gains between 8% and 12%, 2016 was a particularly positive year. It is quite natural that investors choose to take a break, operating in the market just to position their portfolios for the new year.

The American markets closed with contained losses, and the volume continued to suffer a decrease. The session was marked by the publication of macroeconomic data, which did not influence the trend of major indexes but provided investors and economists with useful information about the US economy. GDP growth relative to the third quarter of the year continues to be revised upwards. According to the Commerce Department, the US economy grew 3.50% in that period, surpassing the 3.20% calculated in November and the forecasts of 3.30%. Starts today the period that corresponds to the so-called Santa Claus Rally. This period includes the last five sessions of the year and the first two of the new year. Over the past 30 years, the S & P performed 26 times, with an average gain of 1.74%. However, given the gains made by Trump Rally, the odds of a strong Santa Claus Rally will probably be lower than in previous years.

The Justice Department has fined 7200 M.USD (6300 M. €) for Deutsche Bank for its conduct in the sale of mortgage-indexed assets before the financial crisis, a preliminary agreement that needs to be made official. According to the bank’s accounts published in September, the bank had a provision for legal costs of about 5500 M. €, which does not only involve this case. Analysts estimated that Deutsche Bank would pay a fine between 2000 M.USD and 5000 M.USD.

The banking sector will remain in the spotlight. In an interview published yesterday by the Bild newspaper, German Central Bank President Jens Weidmann warned that for “measures planned by the Italian Government” to succeed, the institution must be “financially healthy in its core business.” He also said that public funds could not be used to cover in advance potential future bank losses.

The South Korean market was penalized by the worsening political situation and the fall of about 20% from Toshiba which also affected the performance of all Asian exchanges. Toshiba warned yesterday it could incur losses of “several billion dollars” following the purchase of a US nuclear power company.

In the pre-opening session, European indexes traded lower after losses on Wall Street yesterday. In the London market, the FTSE index hit a new all-time high, with some analysts reporting strong expectation of the Trump presidency’s impact on rising consumption. Meanwhile, in addition to the banking sector, the oil sector has attracted attention, as the date of implementation of the agreement between members and non-OPEC members is approaching. This morning, the price of crude fell slightly, after the American Petroleum Institute had revealed inventories of this raw material higher than expected

Looking back, 2016 is marked by the valuation of the most risky assets, in a scenario of a certain optimism regarding the whole global environment. In fact, stock indices in the US recorded significant appreciations (S & P rose about 10%, Dow Jones 13.74% and Nasdaq100 7.08%), while in Europe DAX gained 6.59%.

With the US market closed today, attention will be divided between the currency market, due to the depreciation of the Pound against the Dollar and the Euro in Asian markets, and some business news. Pound depreciated, with investors worried and awaiting the speech of Theresa May, scheduled for tomorrow, regarding more details on the Brexit plan. Over the weekend, the UK Finance Minister said that if the country does not maintain access to the single market, it will have to pursue a “new economic model”. On the other hand, the Italian debt market and the performance of the banking sector in the country should attract attention, after the Canadian ratings agency DBRS on Friday cut Italy’s sovereign credit rating to BBB (high) from A (low) in a move which could raise borrowing costs for struggling Italian banks.

This year broke the tradition of being Alcoa the company that debuted the Earnings Season, due to the split in two companies, so that the disclosure of bank accounts was the starting point. For the fourth quarter, the estimates for results point to a 3% growth in the constituents of the S&P500 index.

In the last few sessions, Dax has been penalized by the weakness of the automobile sector and the appreciation of the Euro against the Dollar (due to the strong weight that exporting companies have in the German index). From the technical point of view, several indicators point to an increasing likelihood of a short-term correction.

In pre-opening, European markets were trading bullish. The main event of the day is the meeting of the European Central Bank, although no significant development is expected after the announcements in December. The speech should confirm the markedly accommodative nature, thus reiterating that the reduction in the monthly amount of asset purchases announced in December is only an adjustment of the program and not the beginning of a gradual reduction of the volume of acquisitions to zero.