Rising pop(ulist) star

47 years ago today, on the 9th of March 1961, the mannequin Ivan Ivanovich reached for the stars on board Sputnik 9, marking a new phase in the Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union.

But it was other stars that made the news this week: the Five Star Movement which was the big winner in the Italian election last Sunday. This anti-establishment movement led by the rising (populist) star Luigi Di Maio won 32% of the votes. The fact that one out of two voters cast ballots for either this movement or the anti-immigration League party - two Eurosceptic parties, constitutes a severe blow to the European Union.

But the markets remained relatively unmoved by this political turmoil. Although Italian banks took a hit on Monday with the FTSE Italia All-Share Banks index dropping 2.6% due to the increased pressure on bonds, the FTSE MIB, the main Italian stock index, made a modest 0.4% loss on the day and has more than recovered since, even closing the week up 3.8%.

Elsewhere in Europe, Germany's coalition agreement pushed up the main indices on Monday and the Stoxx 600 gained 1.0%. The markets remained positively oriented in the following days and enjoyed a strong boost on Thursday as tensions over US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports eased and after Mario Draghi signaled greater confidence in the Eurozone economy, increasing its 2018 growth forecast to 2.4% from 2.3%. As the ECB dropped its pledge to increase quantitative easing if the outlook were to become less favorable, the yield on the German 10-year bond retreated. The Stoxx 600 gained 1.1 % on the day and closed the week up 3.1%.

Over the week, Ageas may not have reached for the stars but nevertheless managed to gain 1.5% to EUR 42.75.