Milan, other European markets weak in trading
Economic report from U.S. healthy
13 May, 20:31
(ANSA) - Milan, May 13 - Milan joined most other European
financial markets in a weak performance on Monday, despite
positive news coming from the giant United States economy.On the Milan Stock Exchange, the FTSE-Mib fell by 0.65% to close trading at 17,171 points.
Other European markets showed similar signs of weakness, despite an unexpected rise in retail sales figures for April in the U.S.
There, the department of commerce said Monday that retail sales rose by 0.1% following a drop in March of 0.5%.
That was a better performance than expected by economists, who had predicted that American retail sales would drop by about 0.3% in April.
The debt market in Italy also showed some strength on Monday, as the rate on three-year Italian bonds fell below the 2% mark at a successful Treasury auction.
The Treasury sold all of the 3.5 billion euros' worth of three-year BTPs it put up for sale, at an average interest rate of 1.92%, compared to 2.29% at the last equivalent auction in April. The rate also fell at an auction of 15-year BTPs, where the Treasury sold 1.5 billion euros' worth of these bonds at an average rate of 4.07%, down from the 4.55% rate at a similar sale in February. The strength in the debt market helped to narrow the spread between Italian and German debt.
The spread closed trading on Monday at 262 basis points, and the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds closed at 3.98%.
The spread between lending rates in the two countries is seen as an indication of investor faith in the Italian economy and its ability to cope with a lingering recession.
On other European markets, Frankfurt's DAX was unchanged from Friday, closing at 8,278.50 points, while Paris's CAC 40 fell by 0.20%, closing at 3,945.20 points, and London's FTSE 100 ended the trading day 0.20% higher, closing at 6,631.76. Spain's IBEX 35 fell by 1% to close at 8,456.90 points.
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