Being already in the second half of the year, it is time to look back at what has happened in European stock markets. To do so, we will focus on the main index, since analyzing the full set of stocks would be overwhelming.
With that in mind, we can check that while Poland, Spain, and Portugal have had a very humble performance, there are other countries well above a 15% return in 2019 such as France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
However, none of them has reached 20%, something that Italian FTSE MIB has achieved. From January 1 to September 12, this index has risen around 21%.
It has not been a rose’s path. Nowadays, the index is moving between 22,300 points and 19,500, so the highs and lows are far from each other. The 30-weeks moving average is more or less plain in between those values.
In other words, even when the FTSE MIB shows a great performance at this very moment, it also seems very sensible to the market corrections, and it is not likely to have a clear up tendency. So yes, it is the one that has risen the most, but that does not mean you should rush to buy.
For example, if we take 12 months instead of this year, its performance is much more humble since it only is about 6%, which is still well above the 0.5% of the UK index in this same period.
Now, if we look at the best stocks, we will see some familiar names. Ferrari has risen around 60% this year, only surpassed by Azimut Holding Spa with more than 75%.
There are three other stocks with more than 50% this year: Amplifon, Leonardo, and STMicroelectronics. On the bad side, the worst performance this year has been from Banco Bpm with a negative 1.6% and Fiat, which is around the same price it started with in January.
The big question is: Will they continue with these amazing increases? We cannot say.
Conclusion
Italy, as it usual, is showing much more volatility than the UK index. We cannot predict what will happen with the Brexit and UK volatility; maybe it is a good reason to stay away for a while until we see how it evolves. In the meantime, anyone able to predict the next movements and a lover of strong emotions, may be interested in keeping an eye on the Italian FTSE MIB to wait for a good opportunity to trade.
*Keep in mind that the value changes every day. We wrote this post in mid-September. In addition, we do not suggest that you invest in the Italian index or any other mentioned here. Movements can change rapidly. Ask your investment advisor.