The refrain has been the same for a few weeks: Artificial Intelligence sets the agenda for global financial marketsi, oscillating between good and bad. Today the balance sheet seems once again in chiaroscuro: on the one hand, Wall Street updates its records and the Nasdaq holds up, not to mention the index Seoul's Kospi scores a stunning +8% driven by the +8% of Sk Hynix, on the other hand the two companies that have published the accounts last night, which had already lost a lot in the after-hours, are among the most traded stocks today and are losing a lot. We are talking about SpaceX, which almost doubled its revenues and reduced its losses but is now down 8%, and Advanced Micro Devices, one of the breakout stocks of 2026 along with Micron, which after tripling its value from January 1st to yesterday, has now fallen by 7%. The reason is simple: investor fears about the huge spending on AI.
Tech stocks mixed on the Nasdaq, Booking soars after the results
On the other hand, they travel very well anyway. Micron +3% and Nvidia +3,5%Some of the traditional tech giants, such as Alphabet, Meta, and Apple, posted lower earnings. They're doing very well. On the Nasdaq-100, Booking is up 6%, which yesterday after the market closed published a better-than-expected quarterly report: revenues of 7,35 billion dollars, up approximately 8% on a year-on-year basis, adjusted earnings per share (EPS) exceeding estimates at 2,54 dollars, and above all gross bookings (Gross Bookings) at approximately 51 billion dollars, +9% compared to a year ago despite the ongoing uncertainties in the tourism sector over tensions in the Middle East. Marriott also rose today, up 4% and Airbnb up 1,5%. Bitcoin rose above $64.000.
Strait of Hormuz reopens, but Trump says no to Patriots in Ukraine
Speaking of the Middle East, today's news is that Hormuz returns to worry the markets. While yesterday a US-Iran agreement seemed imminent and Donald Trump had announced (as reported by Axios) a reopening of the Strait between today and tomorrow, Iranian state TV had at one point made it known that a possible agreement with Oman would not lead to the immediate reopening of the Strait. Then, however, Tehran gives the green light: the Strait of Hormuz reopensThis instability, combined with the news that Trump had effectively blocked the political green light for the deployment of Patriot PAC-3 interceptor missiles in Kiev, ended up slowing down European stock markets: Milan -0,17%, Frankfurt -0,3%, London and Paris ultimately defended parity. The euro is strengthening against the US dollar, with the exchange rate above 1,15.
Oil appears to be holding below $80, gold rebounds
Oil, despite the resurgence of tensions, remains below the $80 a barrel threshold for now: WTI Crude Oil is trading around $75, Brent around $79. European natural gas plunged 7%, falling to 52 euros per megathreat, the lowest since mid-July. However, Concerns remain in Europe over limited gas reservesThe region's storage levels are currently at their lowest for this time of year in nearly two decades. The big news today on the commodities front is the gold and silver bounce: the first returns to its highest level since mid-June, exceeding $4.200 per ounce, the second gains 5% to 62 dollars.
Piazza Affari defends 53.000 points with Leonardo and the banks
Like all European stock markets, Milan is unsettled and closes in the red, but holds the 53.000 basis point mark. The best performing stocks are: Brunello Cucinelli +1,8%, MPS +1,6%, Leonardo +1,5%, and Mediobanca +1,5%. Resounding final slowdown for Unipol which until a few minutes before the end of the session was the best performing stock on the FTSE MIB, then ended up gaining less than 1%. The worst performers were: Inwit -2,8%, Fincantieri -2,3%, Stellantis -1,8%, Stm -1,6%. Valtecne received from Palazzo Chigi the communication of non-exercise of the Golden Power regarding the contract that G Square, through its vehicle ValBlue Holdings, a Luxembourg-based company, has signed with the Mainetti family to acquire approximately 82% of the capital of Valtecne itself. The BTP-Bund spread is slightly rising at around 79 basis points., with the yield on the 10-year BTP at 3,8%.
