The UN General Assembly is an important moment of international debate, albeit marred by the absence of the very leaders who should be held accountable for their violations of international law, from Vladimir Putin to Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the recent session in New York, marked by a flurry of meetings and statements, is not helping oil, which is rising again today: Brent crude oil has again surpassed $100 a barrel, reaching the $102 mark., and WTI Crude Oil also appreciated by more than 1%, close to $92 a barrel.
Oil prices rise above $100, while European natural gas hits its lowest since September 4.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian took advantage of his intervention at theUN General Assembly to reject restrictions on Iran's civilian nuclear program and reiterate Tehran's opposition to the US military presence in the Middle East. He also said that Iran remains open to dialogue and diplomacy, but will not accept negotiations conducted under pressure. European natural gas, on the other hand, is declining, falling to 72 euros per megawatt-hour, its lowest since September 4th. Gas storage facilities in Europe are approximately 69% full, well below the five-year seasonal average of 85%, making the market vulnerable ahead of the winter heating season.
Gold falls below $4.300 an ounce as the dollar strengthens against the euro.
Still on the commodities front, gold and silver are losing value today. The former is falling below $4.300 an ounce, while the latter is down 3,5% to below $65 an ounce. The dollar continues to strengthen against the euro, bringing the exchange rate below 1,14 on this Wednesday, September 23. Bitcoin deflated a little, but remained well above the $80.000 mark, currently around $84.000. Government bond yields and spreads are coming under pressure againThe US 10-year Treasury bond yield is once again hovering near the psychological threshold of 5%. The BTP-Bund spread has risen significantly above 90 basis points, with the yield on the Italian 10-year BTP approaching 4,5%, its highest since November 2023.
Meta rebounds on the Nasdaq thanks to Muse. The travel sector slumps.
In this scenario, Western stock markets are all in the red. European markets closed as follows: Milan -0,21%, Paris -0,4%, London -0,03%, Frankfurt -0,66%. Wall Street also gets off to a bad start, with the Nasdaq performing worse than the Dow JonesThe composite index is down almost 1%, with the Nasdaq-100 basket slightly less. Almost all technology stocks are down: Sandisk -2,5%, Micron -1,5%, Google -3%, Amazon -2%, Apple -1%, Intel -2,2%, SpaceX -1,6%. Watch out for the steep decline in the travel sector, which is heavily impacted by geopolitics: Airbnb -5,5%, Booking -5%. Meta, on the other hand, is bucking the trend, currently gaining almost 3%, benefiting from the boom in Muse, the new personal AI agent which is seeing strong adoption: it has exceeded 2,5 million downloads and has quickly reached the top of the charts.
Piazza Affari ended up falling below the 52.000 point mark in extremis.
Piazza Affari ends just below 52.000 points, penalized especially by insurance companies: Generali -2,3%, Unipol -2,8%. Conversely, oil prices have caused the oil sector to re-emerge, with Eni +2,8%, Saipem +0,6%, and Tenaris +0,5%. Luxury goods also reacted, with Brunello Cucinelli +1,75% and Moncler +1,16%. Fight the banks, still in the mire of global financial uncertainties and a debilitating Italian game of risk: Banco Bpm +1,2%, Banca Mediolanum +0,7%, Unicredit +0,23%, Mps +0,37%, Intesa Sanpaolo -0,37%, Bper -0,56%, Mediobanca +0,5%, Banca Generali -0,15%. Regarding Mps, the Minister of Economy Giorgetti confirmed that the government will abstain from voting at the decisive assembly of the shareholders of October 29.
