The last week of April begins with an increasingly uncertain scenario, with US-Iran talks on a truce and the unblocking of the Strait of Hormuz adding to the financial agenda, along with central bank meetings and yet another batch of important quarterly reports from the United States. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta are expected to release their financial statements this week., while no changes to the reference interest rates are expected from the Federal Reserve and the ECB. In this context, the red color prevails on the stock markets today, even if in truth the Nikkei in Tokyo had previously closed with +1,4% and in Europe the losses are mostly contained, with Piazza Affari closed just above par thanks to Saipem's 4,3% gain. And the banks finally took a step forward on Monday: Bper +2%, Mediolanum +1,8%, Banco Bpm +1,5%, Finecobank +1,4%. Generali also rose +0,8%.
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Piazza Affari closes at par: here are the best and worst stocks
In Milan, the new rally in oil prices is boosting Saipem but not all energy stocks: Terna -0,5%, Italgas -0,4%, Enel -0,3%. Avio -4,5% and Stm -2,3% are the worst stocks, and the luxury sector still shows signs of concern, which relies on the Middle East as its core market: Ferrari -1,1%, Brunello Cucinelli -0,5%. In Paris, however, Kering is among the best performing stocks, gaining 1,5%. Other European stock markets are closing worse than Piazza Affari: Paris -0,2%, Frankfurt -0,14%, London -0,46%, the Euro Stoxx 50 index -0,4%, with Amsterdam -1,1% being the worst performer. Wall Street is also off to a poor start: Dow Jones -0,3%, S&P 500 -0,15%, Nasdaq -0,3%. The BTP-Bund spread rises above 80 basis points., with the yield on our 10-year BTP at 3,85%. The euro strengthened against the US dollar, bringing the exchange rate to the 1,173 zone. After several rally sessions Bitcoin drops 1,3%, hovering around $77.000. after having touched its highest level since the end of January at $79.000 in recent days.
Nasdaq in the red: Here's how big tech stocks are doing.
A decidedly bad day for the Nasdaq, with the main technology stocks generally (but not all) travelling in negative territory, awaiting the quarterly results this week. Apple -1,5%, Microsoft -0,5%, Amazon -1%, Google +1,9% and Meta + 0,2 %Palantir is performing well at +0,6%, Intel at +0,8% and Nvidia at +0,9%, while Tesla is among the worst performers at -2,6%. Qualcomm's performance starts very strong in the pre-market Gaining over 10%, it had already plummeted to -0,1% by the time European markets closed. The company had initially been boosted by news of a collaboration with OpenAI and Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer MediaTek to develop smartphone processors.
Commodities: Brent crude oil nears $110, gold and silver depreciate
Finally, the commodities picture once again highlights the unresolved tensions in the Middle East, which are pushing up crude oil prices: Brent crude oil rose 3,4% to $109 a barrel today, and WTI crude oil rose 2,7% to $97 a barrel.The conflict, now in its ninth week, has sent energy prices soaring and caused shortages in key markets, with the International Energy Agency warning of an unprecedented supply shock and the growing risk of a demand slowdown. Gas, on the other hand, loses something, falling below 45 euros per megawatt hour, and on the other hand, safe haven assets such as gold and silver are retreating: the former is now worth less than $4.600 an ounce, and the latter is trading at around $75 an ounce.
