European stock markets continued their week at a stealthy pace and closed a positive but moderate session today In the variations, awaiting developments in the peace talks in Moscow between the US delegation and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Tsar, however, raises his voice against the Old Continent: "It is trying to hinder the efforts of the United States," he says. "Does it want war? We are ready."
Meanwhile, Wall Street is regaining its appetite for risk and, spurred by the prospect of a rate cut by the Fed, is looking to the performance of tech stocks and the rebound in bitcoin, which has risen 7% above $90. Piazza Affari rises by 0,22% at 43.354 basis points, thanks to the growth of Lottomatica (+3,2%) and the banks, even if MPS (-3,7%) is unable to stop the haemorrhage triggered by the news of the investigation into the takeover of Mediobanca (-0,3%).
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In the rest of the continent, the pink jersey goes to Madrid, +0,5%, thanks in part to Santander (+1,58%), which sold another 3,5% of its Polish subsidiary for approximately 473 million dollars. Frankfurt up 0,58%, led by Bayer (+12,45%), energized by the Trump administration's support for the company's requests to reduce the number of lawsuits in the US over the alleged carcinogenic pesticide. London remained little changed (-0,01%), while Amsterdam (-0,3%) and Paris (-0,28%) declined slightly.
Wall Street: Bubble fears fade, though rekindled by the BoE
Wall Street seems to have regained the initial optimism that characterized the last sessions of last month. The two dominant themes are still monetary policy and the valuation of big tech, especially those related to AI. The Bank of England has rekindled the bubble alarm today, even drawing a parallel with the period preceding the bursting of the dot-com bubble about 25 years ago.
At the moment however Nasdaq (+0,35%) is leading the way (DJ +0,3%; S&P 500 +0,16%), and Nvidia appreciated by 0,56%. Focus also on Netflix (-1,46%), which is expected to have submitted an improved offer for Warner Bros. Discovery (1,1%), with a majority stake in cash, according to Bloomberg.
Euro-dollar exchange rate unchanged; eurozone inflation slightly up
On the foreign exchange market the euro-dollar exchange rate is practically at a standstill, which remains hovering around 1,16. Market appetite is being weighed down by bets on a 0,25% rate cut by the Fed at its December meeting. According to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool, investors are pricing in an 87,6% probability of this.
Important data on US jobs and inflation are expected this week, while in the Eurozone, Eurostat's flash estimate says that price inflation accelerated slightly in November to an annual rate of 2,2% from 2,1% a month earlier. While in October unemployment remained stable at 6,4%. Data which, in any case, have not changed the expectation that the ECB will leave rates unchanged in the short term.
According to the OECD, on the other hand, rate cuts will end in major economies next year. In the current context, profit-taking is prevailing in gold, which, for immediate delivery, is down 1,4% to $4173,23 an ounce. oil prices remain almost flatTexas crude is trading at $59,27 a barrel; Brent crude is at $63,08.
Piazza Affari: Watch Out for Generali
Among the blue chips with the highest rise today is Generali, +2,04%, the Trieste Lion which The MPS-Mediobanca marriage remains in the background, now under the scrutiny of the judiciary. Adding momentum to the stock was BofA's upgrade to "buy" from "underperform" with a price target of €39. The brokerage believes the stock has attractive valuations and potential upside, thanks to a favorable business mix and the potential for increased shareholder returns.
The banking sector as a whole is positiveBper +1,87% and Popolare di Sondrio +1,47% are particularly strong. Unicredit +0,83% and Intesa +0,47% are also more cautious but positive. MPS is suffering instead, at its fourth consecutive negative session. The judicial investigation The Milanese bank has now also targeted the purchases made by the Pension Funds, characterized by "numerous formal anomalies." The Siena-based bank has meanwhile convened a board meeting for Friday, December 5th, to analyze the matter.
Campari (-0,54%) disappeared from the top ten of the day, having started off with a bang following Barclays' upgrade, which brought its rating to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight', with a target price improved to 7,9 euros. The queen of the list is Lottomatica, helped by JP Morgan, which raised its price target to 31 euros from 28 euros. Oil stocks such as Saipem (-3,66%) and Tenaris (-2,92%) fell sharply.
Spread remains stable, but Moody's warns the EU and the UK of a negative outlook.
Eurozone government bonds closed a relatively stable session. The spread between the Italian and German 10-year bonds remained around 72 basis points, and yields remained at 3,47% and 2,75%, respectively. On EU and UK sovereign bonds, but Moody's has issued a warning. The outlook for 2026 is negative for the credit fundamentals of sovereign bonds in the two regions "due to geoeconomic and geopolitical risks, growing parliamentary fragmentation, and economic and fiscal pressures."
The agency wrote this, specifying that it would change its outlook to stable “if geopolitical risks and tariff uncertainty were to substantially decrease. A more significant economic recovery and faster implementation of competitiveness-enhancing reforms leading to a sustained increase in trend growth would also be credit-positive, as would fiscal reforms to offset rising spending pressures and stabilize public debt.”
