ROME, Feb 20- The head of Monte dei Paschi di Siena Marco Morelli will leave in April after steering the state-owned Italian bank through a painful restructuring, adding to uncertainty as Italy's Treasury prepares its exit strategy. Morelli, the former head of Bank of America in Italy, had hinted that he may be moving on when presenting Monte dei Paschi's...
MILAN, Feb 20- Prada celebrated the "pluralism and complexities of female identities" at its Fall/Winter show in Milan on Thursday, with designs ranging from strict tailoring to fringed and sequinned dresses. Pastel-colored Wellington boots were paired with puffer jackets and pencil skirts. In show notes creative director Miuccia Prada, who runs the company...
BRUSSELS, Feb 20- Italy's Prime Minister Conte said on Thursday it would be the government's duty to consider any settlement proposal made by Atlantia before taking a decision over revoking the infrastructure group's motorway concession. Atlantia, controlled by the prominent Benetton family, has been locked in a dispute with the government over its...
*Britain's exit leaves 75 billion euro hole in bloc's finances. BRUSSELS, Feb 20- European Union leaders will clash this week over the EU's 2021-2027 budget as Britain's exit leaves a 75 billion euro hole in the bloc's finances just as it faces costly challenges such as becoming carbon neutral by 2050.. Still, disputes over hundredths of percentage points have...
Lending weight to forecasts that the epidemic might ebb by April, data showed the number of new virus cases in China fell for a second straight day. Rising hopes that China will cut its benchmark lending rate on Thursday to curb damage from the outbreak also lent support. "It is a question of how quickly China can return to normal," said Andrea Cicione, head of strategy...
MILAN, Feb 19- Italy's economy minister welcomed moves to consolidate the fragmented banking sector following Intesa Sanpaolo's 4.9 billion euro bid for smaller domestic rival UBI Banca, whose board met on Wednesday to consider the offer. The bid, one of the largest seen in Europe in more than a decade, triggered a surge in Italian banking stocks on Tuesday...
*Milan shares hit highest level since 2008. The pan-European STOXX 600 index added half a percent, after data showed the number of new virus cases in China fell for a second straight day, lending weight to forecasts that the epidemic might ebb by April. China- exposed miners rose more than 1%, recovering quickly from a near-2% slump on Tuesday, when a sales warning by...
Feb 18- European shares dropped on Tuesday as a revenue warning from Apple hammered iPhone parts makers and underlined the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on global supply chains. Milan shares closed at their highest in over a decade as Intesa Sanpaolo's 4.86 billion euro bid for smaller rival UBI Banca sparked hopes of much-awaited consolidation among...
Feb 18- Intesa Sanpaolo Chief Executive Carlo Messina tells journalists:. *UPBEAT ON OUTCOME OF UBI TENDER OFFER GIVEN STRONG PRESENCE OF INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT FUNDS AMONG UBI SHAREHOLDERS. *UBI CEO VICTOR MASSIAH, ONCE INFORMED, SAID HE WOULD ASSESS INTESA OFFER.
ITALY'S RULING PARTIES MINDED TO BACK A THIRD TERM FOR DESCALZI IF HE STEPS UP DRIVE TO CUT EMISSIONS- SOURCES.
LONDON, Feb 14- Most government bond yields across the euro area edged lower on Friday, after bleak economic data from Germany added to concerns about the bloc's economic outlook. The European Union's statistics office said GDP in the 19 countries sharing the euro expanded 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in the October-December period, as announced on Jan 31, for a...
*Designers face logistics headache as China factories shut. "Due to the virus all the hand-crafted things that were made in China weren't able to arrive, and all the factories shut down, and the couriers not working, so I had to cut down the looks," she told Reuters backstage after the show. British Fashion Council Chief Executive Caroline Rush said the number of...
*Russia's central bank gold demand fell by 42% in 2019. MOSCOW, Feb 14- Russia's central bank has maintained the discount at which it buys gold for its reserves at December's peak level, it told Reuters on Friday, potentially prompting more local producers and bankers to export the metal. The central bank remains the largest buyer of gold produced in Russia, but...
The yield on the Italian 10- year government bond rose 2.6 basis points to 0.92%, mainly due to the bleak economic data, said Ralf Preusser, global head of rates research at Bank of America. The appetite for Italian debt may have also have been impacted slightly by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi saying Italy's government could collapse after his small party...
British Fashion Council Chief Executive Caroline Rush warned that numbers would be down due to coronavirus and some designers were struggling because of the shut-down of transport links and factories in China. "We've had one designer that isn't able to show because their collection hasn't arrived from China due to the logistics issues," Rush told Reuters...
LONDON, Feb 14- After a strong rally the previous day, Italian government bonds changed course on Friday as investors reassessed the severity of the 2019- nCov coronavirus on global economic growth. Italy led a rally in euro zone bond markets on Thursday, with 10- year yields hitting four-month lows on growing confidence that the European Central Bank will keep...
PARIS, Feb 14- Renault reported its first loss in a decade and cut its 2020 margin target on Friday, as it attempts to draw a line under the Carlos Ghosn affair and reboot its Nissan alliance. Meanwhile, it is also grappling like other automakers, including Japan's Nissan, with tumbling auto demand in some key markets like China. "It has been a tough year for Groupe...
SINGAPORE, Feb 14- Leaning on its SARS experience, Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd has slashed flights, asked staff to take unpaid leave and is re-assessing its fleet as it battles an epidemic and a crisis of morale after pro-democracy protests. Planes are parked unused at its home airport, flights across its network like Rome and Washington have been...
U.S. buyout fund Providence has hired Goldman Sachs and Rothschild to find a new owner for the Paris- based firm which runs a network of 42 schools in ten countries, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. An auction process kicked off in early February with Providence targeting a wide range of potential bidders including family offices, sovereign...
LONDON, Feb 13- Italy led a rally in euro zone bond markets on Thursday, with 10- year Italian bond yields hitting four-month lows on growing confidence the ECB will keep monetary policy easy for longer to protect the economy from the fallout of coronavirus. Italy's 10- year bond yield tumbled as much as six basis points to around 0.86%, narrowing the gap over safer...
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