European stock exchanges in free fall on the fourth day of war in the Middle East, as the front continues to widen. Madrid is the worst (-4,6%) followed by Milan, with a decline of 3,92% and 38 blue chips out of 40 in deep red. They also sink Frankfurt, Paris and London are recording losses of between 2 and 3,5%. It is also moving downwards Wall Street, where the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 are down between 1,3% and 1,6%.
Bad too l'Asia The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (-2,8%) recorded its worst decline in two days. It is in deep red. Tokyo (-3,06%), with the yen depreciating against the dollar again at 157,20, and little moved against the euro at 183,40. Alone (-7,2%), also in red Hong Kong (-1,1%), Shanghai (-1,4%), Shenzhen (-3,2%) And Mumbai, (-1,2%).
Investors assess the impacts of closure of the Strait of Hormuz which risks causing a blockage of energy supply chains and, consequently, becoming a danger for the holding up of the global economy, considering the huge flows of crude oil and LNG that pass through there by ship. So much so that some observers already hypothesize that the barrel could reach $100 within a short time if the conflict were to drag on, despite the increase in OPEC+ production. In the meantime, they are recording a new surge in oil and gas prices: Brent crude trades at $83,4 a barrel (+7,28%), while TTF gas in Amsterdam jumps to €53,6/MWh (+20,4%), boosted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the damage to LNG plants in Qatar caused by Iranian attacks. On the currency market,euro drops to $1,1585 (-0,88%), while precious metals retrace: their spot in euros falls to 141,98 (-3,04%), returning to 5.110 dollars per ounce, and silver it dropped 7% to 83 dollars.
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Returning to the stock market, in Milan there are only two stocks in the green: the first is Lottomatica, which announced its 2025 results this morning, closed with a 45% growth in adjusted profit, an 8% increase in net inflows and the distribution of a dividend of 0,44 euros. The second is Recordati.
The rest of the Ftse Mib is a war bulletin: Italgas 6,3%, A2a 6,08% and Hera 5,74%. The banking sector has not been spared, with Mediobanca and Popolare di Sondrio which mark drops of more than 5%. Defense, oil and insurance also close in the red, with Leonardo -0,48% Eni -1,62% Tenaris -1,89% Saipem -5,16% and Unipol -5,18%. In the luxury sector they suffer Moncler and Cucinelli.
On the secondary market it is on the rise the spread between BTPs and Bunds, which jumped to 72 points from 62 at the previous close, with the yield on the 10-year Italian bond rising to 3,49% from 3,34%, while the German Bund closed at 2,77% (+0,07%).
