Sunday 4 December 2016

Dec 4, 2016 - Are Italians finally going to do something with their unwillingness to make a change?

The market is expecting a No vote victory of a very tight race but 20% of the voters were still undecided few days ago. The referendum is the third opportunity this year, after Brexit vote and Trump’s victory, for those who want to express the protest against the system and status quo and the result may be a proxy for upcoming elections in Netherlands, France and Germany. It seems that the election results this year are a sign of frustration rather the real call for a change. Hopefully Germany will be the exception link.


 Facts

-          Renzi is planning to change the dysfunctional system of the government and take some of the powers from regions to be able to implement the changes and make the governing of the country more flexible

-          Italy had already 65 governments since WW2 and tends more towards populism than pragmatism

-          Senate to become more advisory body to Chamber of Deputies than decisions stopping one

-          The biggest party would have a majority

-          Some Italian banks are under pressure as they have issues with refinancing

-          Monte di Paschi is seeking EUR 5 bln few days after referendum as it needs to increase its capital from EUR 500 mln to be better position itself and handle the EUR 28 bln portfolio of bad loans

-          Unicredit s in talks with potential investors to increase the capital week after and potential investors may withdraw from already pre-agreed deal in case of No vote

-          GDP per capita still at the level from ’90, the economy did not grow over the past 15 years

-          Labour market is frozen, public debt is at 133% of GDP level and banks are coping with bad loans


What to expect

No vote

-          Means weak government if Renzi decides not to resign as he had promised

-          If he does it will not automatically lead to snap elections as they may reshuffle the government first

-          If they call for a snap elections populist opposition leader Grillo may benefit the most and call a referendum on Euro. Even if he does the outcome will negative for him as 85% of population wants to keep euro.

-          Chaos on Italian political scene if Renzi resigns suddenly and headaches in Brussels

-          Spread between Italian and German 10 year government bonds reached 186 bps this week and may rise much higher what in turn means more expensive financing of the state debt

-          Very likely the country rating will be reviewed with the high risk of downgrade

-          ECB is ready to intervene and buy bonds to contain the potential selloff and spikes in yields but this step is limited to days/weeks only as ECB needs an approval from Governing Council to carry such operations for longer period

Yes vote

-          Brussels will take a breather as populists across EU would see a rejection of their simple but not working policies and it would be a positive step on the back of Brexit and Trump’s victory

-          Renzi would have a mandate to go ahead with constitutional changes and political situation will calm down to certain degree. Again it will depend also on what margin the Yes will win.

-          After implementing the constitutional changes the political setup in Italy should be more stable but there is a risk as the Senators will not be elected but nominated by regions that are the sources of corruption. That may potentially create an opportunity for so called politicians to get into Senate without actually being elected.


Market impact

No vote

-          Before going into EURUSD shorts immediately after No takes the win it would make sense to wait a bit whether Renzi will announce his resignation immediately and check by what margin the No vote won. In case of a slim difference the market reaction may not be that profound as in the case of a decisive No victory.

-          Italian banks and European equities will suffer but the biggest hit will be taken by Italian banks

Yes vote

-          In case of Yes vote the upside in EURUSD is quite limited and the underlying trend of USD strength will stay firmly in place

-          In case of Yes vote, the winner will be Italian banks and European equities in general. The banks should really benefit also from raising bond yields due to inflation fears and the fact that the amount of bad loans on their books has stabilized.


Good luck Champs!

Mr Hawk





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