European stock markets closed in the red today, a session prey to volatility, which sought support in the afternoon in clearing of US-China relationsA rainbow that, however, arrived in a still turbulent sky, with Wall Street unable to find its center of gravity after yesterday's write-downs and problems with large loans at two regional American banks, Zions Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp, reawakened doubts about the overall stability of the system.
Gold, after having updated its highs at $4379,29 in the morning, is now calming down and leaving room for profit-taking: spot gold is currently down 1,65% and shows a price of $4254,75 an ounce. At the end of the day Piazza Affari loses 1,45% and falls to 41.758 basis points, weighed down by banks and Leonardo -5,32%.
Among the sectors most affected by sales in Europe is in fact the defence sector, on the day in which the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky He was received by President Donald Trump at the White House. This appointment was slightly overshadowed by the new meeting scheduled to take place within two weeks in Budapest between Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
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The sales thus hit a sector already under pressure since the truce in Gaza After the dramatic gains of recent years, Frankfurt's main index fell 1,79% at the end of the day, with Rheinmetall (-6,82%) in the red. Elsewhere in Europe, London fell 0,9%, Amsterdam 0,33%, and Madrid 0,18%. Paris limited the damage to 0,18%, largely thanks to Essilux, up 12,98%, which benefited from buying after better-than-expected quarterly data.
Wall Street looking for direction
Wall Street is still searching for direction after the fear index surged again. The DJ is currently flat, the S&P 500 is down 0,35%, and the Nasdaq is down 0,65%. Regional banks are recovering, and risk appetite has been boosted above all by Trump's words on Fox Business: "We need to make a fair deal" with China. “100% tariffs are not sustainable,” said the tycoon, adding that he will meet President Xi Jinping in two weeks in South Korea and assuring that, with Beijing, "everything will be fine." Pharma stocks are nervous, however, as the White House resident expects the cost of obesity drugs to be "much lower."
Euro slightly down
After touching 1,17 against the dollar, the euro retreated and traded slightly below that level, in a currently calm currency market amid expectations of the Fed's expected 0,25% interest rate cut at the end of the month. This cut, according to the market, will be a prelude to further cuts, despite inflation remaining around 3%. Oil is on track to close out a negative week, although, at the end of the day, Brent and WTI futures show very modest gains and prices of 61,17 dollars a barrel and 57,55 dollars a barrel respectively.
Weighing on prices was partly the EIA's forecast of a growing supply overhang in 2026. The agency reported yesterday that U.S. crude inventories rose by 3,5 million barrels, reaching 423,8 million barrels last week, exceeding the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters, who had forecast an increase of 288.000 barrels. The increase in inventories was largely due to lower utilization at refineries, currently undergoing fall maintenance. The data also showed U.S. production increased to 13,636 million barrels per day, a new all-time high.
Piazza Affari: Campari, Terna, and Stellantis perform well.
Among the blue chips on the Milan Stock Exchange, Campari is also standing out today, up 0,97%, after gains the day before in the wake of Nestlé's decisions and Pernod Ricard's forecasts. Inwit defends the price list +0,98% together with Terna +0,83% and Italgas, +0,48%, on which Deutsche Bank raised its target price.
In the automotive sector, Stellantis posted another strong session, up 0,87%, while Ferrari (-0,53%) was again in trouble. Elsewhere, Pirelli, which will report quarterly results on November 6th, is up 2,59%. Moving on to the more sobering news: Leonardo is at the bottom of the main list and in the defense area Fincantieri (-5,08%) and Avio (-8,84%) are also in losses.
Prysmian falls -3,36% and the banks are in the red Starting with Unicredit -2,62%, Intesa -2,23%, Mediobanca -1,97%. Other financial stocks also fell, including Banca Mediolanum -2,43%, Poste Italiane -2,28%, Azimut -2,24%, and Generali -2%. Oil stocks were mixed: Saipem fell -1,96%, while Eni appreciated +0,53%.
Spreads rise; BTPs rise in value, here are the minimum yields.
The session is moderately negative for Italian paper, which sees the spread with the ten-year Bund widen to 80 basis points (one more than yesterday), with rates at 3,38% and 2,58% respectively. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economy and Finance has announced the minimum yields of the sixth issue of the BTP Value, scheduled from Monday, October 20th to Friday, October 24th. The minimum guaranteed coupon rates are 2,6% for the first three years, rising to 3,1% in the fourth and fifth years, and 4% for the sixth and seventh years. Nominal coupons will be paid every three months, and at maturity, the final premium will be 0,8% of the invested capital.
