Le European stock markets close cautiously higher, In the wake of the Wall Street rally, which, driven by Nvidia's announcement of $100 billion in OpenAI, reached new heights, fueled by the entire tech sector. And even today, investors' eyes (and ears) remain on the US, where the Fed's chairman is scheduled to deliver a speech in late Italian afternoon. Jerome Powell from which some further indications could come on the US central bank's policy and on possible new cuts by the end of the year.
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In Europe, however, attention today is turned towards the PMI indices which measure manufacturing and service sector activity in September. In Germany, the index fell to 48,5 from 49,8, while in France, the composite PMI for the current month, released today, fell to 48,4 from 49,8 in August, a five-month low. The manufacturing PMI, on the other hand, fell to 49,5 from 50,7 in August. Investors are also watching international tensions: they worry about the drones spotted in Copenhagen and Oslo. The spotlight is also on New York where theUN assembly.
In this context, Paris is the best place of the day, followed by Madrid and FrankfurtFlat London.
Milan closed up 0,13%, before turning negative and returning to parity at mid-session. The list was weighed down by sales in banks and especially in Mediobanca. The takeover bid for MPS (which is instead rising) closed yesterday, with the Sienese bank that has reached 86,3% of the capital of the Milanese one, a percentage that paves the way for the merger and the possible delisting of the Mediobanca stock. The long-term impact of the operation obviously reaches Generali (down), considering that Mediobanca is the company's largest shareholder with 13,2% of the capital. Also down Bpm bank awaiting news on the possible merger with Crédit Agricole Italia. After Monday's purchases, profit-taking strikes Leonardo, while luxury is keeping the Ftse Mib afloat, with Moncler and Cucinelli, Stm and Italgas.
On other markets, it marks yet another record.'gold, with the spot contract hitting a new high of $3.759 an ounce, while the futures contract reached $3.794. Supporting the safe haven par excellence are expectations of further rate cuts in the United States and a weak dollar (currently at 1,179 euro/dollar exchange rate).
It drops to 83 points spread Between BTPs and German Bunds. The Italian annual yield fell to 3,57%, compared to 0,9 points lower for the German one at 2,74%. The yield differential between the Italian and French 10-year benchmarks versus the German Bund also confirms the near-zeroness. At the start of trading on the MTS platform, as was the case yesterday at the close, the two securities are hovering around similar yield levels: the BTP yields 3,57%, while the OAT yields 3,55%.
