MILAN – European stock markets open higher in the last session of the week. In the spotlight today data on Italian GDP, which fell by 0.1% in the fourth quarter. The dovish words arrived yesterday from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic also supported the markets, who said yesterday that he was “in favor of a 25 basis point increase in interest rates” from the current 4.5%-4, 75% at the next meeting on March 21-22, because “it is appropriate to be cautious”. In Asia, the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed the last session of the week at a maximum in two and a half months at +1.56%, on expectations of a recovery in economic activity in China and encouraging results from the retail sector in Japan. 15:44 Wall Street up, waiting for PMI Wall Street opens up in the last session of the week, in the wake of yesterday’s positive closure. While awaiting the short-term publication of the macro data on the PMI services index for the US, the stock markets still seem to give credence to the last words of the Fed representatives who hypothesize a possible slower pace of interest rate hikes. At the start of trading, the Dow Jones index marks +0.28% with 33,075.99 points, the S&P +0.41% with 3,996.74 while the Nasdaq +0.47% with 11,529.13. 11:03 AM Italy, PMI services worse than estimates in February The PMI index of purchasing managers in the services sector in Italy was 51.6 points in February, against 53.1 expected and 51.2 in January. 09:18 AM China’s PMI rises, Russia is also doing well The Chinese Caixin purchasing managers’ index rose to 55 points in February against 52.9 in January and an estimate of 54.7. Russia’s S&P Global Services PMI also increased, rising to 53.1 in February against the previous 48.7. 09:04 The stock exchanges open higher The European stock exchanges start the last trading session of the week with a positive sign. Milan, with the Ftse Mib increasing by 0.58% and rising to 27,557 points, marks the best figure, followed by Paris (+0.22%) and Frankfurt (+0.15%). London is also in line, with a share of +0.18%.
