European stock markets closed lower today, influenced this afternoon by Wall Street's nervousness, still grappling with concerns about artificial intelligence and some doubts about the Fed. Amid the uncertainty, investors sought refuge in gold and silver. These precious metals again hit record highs, only to subsequently slide into negative territory themselves. Piazza Affari lost 0,43% to 43.513 points basis, after having reached 44 thousand points during the session, in a momentum that had affected all European markets in the wake of the new records in Tokyo (Nikkei +1,37$, 50.836 basis points) and the highs reached yesterday in New York.
On the Milan stock exchange, in the afternoon trading, Banks in particular lost ground, which had driven the first part of the session. The continental financial landscape is generally weak: Frankfurt -0,34%, London -0,59%, Paris -0,12%, Amsterdam -0,73%, Madrid -0,17%. Investors took good cues from the macroeconomic page today: November inflation in Germany remained stable at 2,3%;
British GDP in October, on the other hand, surprised negatively (-0,1% month-on-month), as did manufacturing production, which fell by 0,8% year-on-year. On the geopolitical front, the news is not encouraging: positions on the ground for the end of the war in Ukraine are still far away and meanwhile a fierce legal war looms between Moscow and Brussels for the Russian assets that they would like to use to support Kiev.
Nasdaq in deep red
On the American shore The Nasdaq is in deep red (-1,86%), with the bubble alarm continuing to float across the stock market like a shifting, fragile ball of soap. Following Oracle's plunge yesterday, Broadcom plunged today (-10%), despite a solid quarterly report. The sell-off was prompted by the chipmaker's reported lower future margins on AI system sales, heightening concerns about the profitability of investments in this technology. Consequently, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices remain negative. Oracle loses another 3,2%.
Currently the three US indexes are all down, including the DJ (-0,52%) and the S&P 500 (-1,21%), which yesterday, along with the Russell 2000 (-1,37%), closed at record highs. The Federal Reserve had fueled the rally with its rate cut and a less hawkish outlook than investors had feared. Today, however, Fed officials, who voted against the rate cut, are contributing to a negative impact on the market. They fear that inflation remains too high to justify a rate cut, given the lack of recent official data on the pace of price increases.
Key macroeconomic data due out next week, such as the Labor Department's report on non-farm payrolls and the consumer price index for the month of November.
Gold and silver still protagonists
In the current context and with a dollar weakened by a more dovish Fed than expected, gold and silver are once again holding sway. Spot gold hit a new high during the session At $4353,70 an ounce, it is currently trading at $4297,13 (+0,4%). Silver, for immediate delivery, rose to $64,6595, before falling back to $62,063 an ounce, down 2,36%. Oil is weak: WTI at $57,29 a barrel (-0,54%); Brent at $60,94 a barrel (-0,55%). On the foreign exchange market, the euro-dollar exchange rate remains at yesterday's level at 1,1739.
Piazza Affari: banks in decline
In a market that has morphed over the course of trading, Amplifon, +2,04%, Campari, +1,66%, and Diasorin, +1,6%, closed significantly higher today. STM broke away from US technology stocks and gained 1,66%. The most volatile sector, however, was the banking sector, which reached the finish line in the red, with the exception of MPS, +1,03%. At the bottom of the Ftse Mib is Banco Bpm, -1,67%, followed by Banca Mediolanum -1,66% and the big companies Intesa -0,96% and Unicredit -1,29% also lost ground.
Insurance stocks also fell, Generali -1,48% and Unipol -0,99%. Poste Italiane loses 0,82%, after acquired the remaining share of Tim Vivendi holds a 0,37% stake (+2,51%) in the former monopoly, thus increasing its stake to 27,32%, while simultaneously requesting exemption from the takeover bid. Consequently, US tech firms remain negative at Prysmian, down 1,53%.
Spreads up slightly
The session also closed in red on the secondary market, where the spread between the ten-year BTP and its German counterpart rises to 70 basis points (+1,33%), but still remains near 15-year lows. Rates are little changed at 3,56% and 2,86%, respectively.
