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by Fabrizio Patti 16 December 2019The agreement between the United States and China on Phase One of the negotiations was officially announced on Friday afternoon, Italian time. But the markets had already risen a lot on the basis of media rumors: Hong Kong and Tokyo during the night between Thursday and Friday had risen by more than 2 and a half percent. So today they have already discounted this news and sales prevail on the two financial markets. The agreement between the United States and China foresees the cancellation by Washington of the duties expected from yesterday, December 15, and the reduction of duties imposed in September from 25 to 7 and a half percent, while duties on goods are confirmed for $ 250 billion previously arranged. In return, there is Beijing's commitment to buy US agricultural products and the suspension of new Chinese tariffs. They would have hit companies like Apple, which climbed 1.36% on Friday, reaching its historic highs. Today's growth in some markets such as Shenzhen (+ 1.53%) is mainly linked to data, exceeding expectations, of industrial production (+ 6.2%) and retail sales (+ 8%) in China in November . Positive opening for all major European stock exchanges. The Ftse Mib in Milan rises by half a percentage point. Paris, Frankfurt and especially London are doing better, + 1%, which still benefits from the reduction of Brexit uncertainties after the victory of the conservatives led by Boris Johnson in the political elections. The euro is still lower against the pound: -0.21% today, -1.05% in the last week. The day after the decree on the Banca Popolare di Bari the banking sector reacts positively: + 0.66% for the reference index at Piazza Affari.