Crude oil rally – driven by US sanctions against Russia – is driving purchases on oil stocks today, allowing for a higher close on European stock markets and pushing Wall Street into positive territoryOn the other side of the scale, some quarterly results and uncertainty about the development of US-China relations weigh.
Piazza Affari rose 0,41% to 42.381 basis points, despite the 14,12% decline in the STM, which met estimates for the first nine months but disappointed with its sales forecasts for the fourth quarter. Supporting the stock market are Eni (up 3,04%), A2a (up 3,04%), Prysmian (up 2,9%), luxury goods and aerospace stocks, while banks are mixed.
Elsewhere in the continent: London +0,6%; Frankfurt +0,15%; Amsterdam +0,82%; Madrid +0,02%. Paris closed up 0,23%, weighed down on one side by STM, but supported by Kering (+8,71%), Gucci's parent company, after a quarterly report that was "less bad" than analysts expected.
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Across the pond, Wall Street started very cautiously, but currently the Nasdaq (+0,56%) and the S&P 500 (+0,26%) are in positive territory, while the DJI is flat, with IBM falling (-4,56%). The technology company's results beat market estimates, but also revealed a slowdown in growth in its strategic cloud software division. Sentiment was also weighed down by Tesla's decline (-3,92%), before the Magnificent Seven reported their quarterly results.
Some heavyweights, such as Nvidia (+0,75%), are performing well, while this morning Asian stock markets were hit by rumors of a possible US crackdown on software exports to China in retaliation for Beijing's restrictions on the sale of rare earths abroad. This potential scenario was confirmed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
On the macro front, the news of the week should come tomorrow with US consumer prices, the last chance to assess the Fed's next moves before its meeting on October 29th, when a further 0,25% rate cut is expected without great concern.
Oil rallying amid US sanctions (will India and China join forces?). Gold rebounds.
Crude oil is the star of today's session, rising sharply after a long period of stagnation in response to US sanctions on Moscow's oil. The Trump administration has imposed further restrictions on Russia's two largest oil companies, citing Moscow's "lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine."
Furthermore, in mid-afternoon, Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that major Chinese state-owned oil companies had suspended purchases of Russian seaborne oil after the United States imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil. And "the move comes," the news agency wrote, "as refiners in India, the largest buyer of Russian seaborne oil, are poised to drastically cut their crude imports from Moscow to comply with US sanctions."
In this context, Brent and WTI futures for December 2025 both gained more than 5%, seeing prices of $65,93 and $61,82 per barrel, respectively. The darkening geopolitical outlook is helping gold rebound, after recent gains raised concerns about a bubble risk for the bullion.
The December 2025 gold futures contract gained approximately 2,5% to trade at $4166,14 an ounce (after peaking above $4171), while spot gold rose 1,25% to $4149,91 an ounce. Silver also rebounded strongly, with the December contract trading at $49,018 an ounce (+2,8%). On the currency market, the euro-dollar pair is flat, trading at $1,161. The greenback, however, strengthened 0,4% against the yen, to $152,60.
Piazza Affari: Leonardo, Eles, and Avio soar.
Aerospace is buzzing today in Milan, following the official announcement of Leonardo's agreement (+1,66% on the FTSE MIB) with Airbus and Thales to create a satellite joint venture. Meanwhile, enthusiasm for Avio (+0,8%) has gradually faded in the sector after the company's shareholders approved a capital increase of up to €400 million.
In terms of sector proximity, Eles (up 14,98% to €2,61) is a company specializing in the design and production of semiconductor reliability testing equipment for the automotive, defense, aerospace, and communications sectors. This performance stems from the announcement of a counter-offer (at €2,60 per share) by Luxembourg-based fund Xenon, a response to the offer Mare Group had launched before the summer, but rejected as hostile by Eles's board of directors. The top ten companies by market capitalization now include, in addition to Loenardo, oil stocks, including Saipem (up 1,34%), which was volatile on the day of its analyst call following its quarterly results.
Luxury stocks performed well, with Moncler up 2,85% and Ferrari up 2,26%. Among financial stocks, Unipol led the way, up 2,16%, but its participating banks, Bper (-2,03%) and Popolare di Sondrio (-1,55%), are nearing the bottom of the list. Unicredit, on the other hand, performed well, up 1,28%. As mentioned, Stm was the worst performer, while Telecom Italia also fell by 2,93%, Campari by 1,69%, and Stellantis by 1,32%.
Stable spreads
The secondary market closed with little change: the spread between 10-year BTPs and Bunds of the same duration remained at 79 basis points, even if the bonds saw a slight increase in rates to 3,38% and 2,58% respectively. The French OAT again overtook, closing with a spread with the Bund of 80 basis points.
Regarding the Italian primary bond market, BTP Valore, approximately 30 minutes before the close of the fourth day of offering, had received bids for €2,24 billion, based on nearly 73,000 contracts. Total demand—including the proceeds from the previous three days of offering—nearly reached €15,25 billion. The offering will end tomorrow at 1:00 PM (unless it closes early).
