European markets have got off to a quiet start to the week dominated by concerns about the health of the Italian banking sector, while UK Chancellor George Osborne outlined plans to cut corporation tax to 15% in an attempt to offset any potential impact that last month’s Brexit vote might have on overseas business and their future investment plans in the UK.
Mining stocks have continued to make gains in the last 24 hours with precious metals miners feeling the tail wind of a move higher in silver and gold prices as silver prices hit 18 month highs and broke above its 200 week MA for the first time since the March 2013.
The best performers have been Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) and Fresnillo (LON:FRES) as a combination of lower for longer and a negative interest rate environment combine to make the ownership of these precious metals much more attractive.
Financials are once again under pressure as concerns about the solvency of Italian banks has once again seen sharp share price declines with the weakest link Monte Di Paschi (LON:0R7P) once again acting as the lead weight on the sector. Now with a market capitalisation of just over €1bn the bank reportedly has €48bn of non-performing loans that it needs to deal with over the next two years.
With EU leaders in sharp disagreement about what to do next Italian PM Renzi has threatened to go it alone and bailout its banks unilaterally, however without lancing the boil of NPL’s that could well be akin to throwing more money down the drain.
The pound has slipped back after the latest construction PMI data for June showed a sharp fall into contraction from 51.2 to 46 and its lowest level since 2009. While employment numbers continued to rise, new business volumes slid sharply in the lead up to the vote, with residential construction particularly weak.
These weak numbers have hit the house builders once again with Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW) and Persimmon (LON:PSN) once again under pressure along commercial real estate developers British Land (LON:BLND) and Land Securities (LON:LAND).
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