It's a Black Thursday financially, or rather perhaps it would be better to say a red Thursday, given that all over the world and at different levels – from stock markets to raw materials – negative performances have been recorded, in some cases even heavily as for the Milan Stock Exchange, which after a series of encouraging sessions collapsed today by 1,75%. What has caused the bank to break today are the macro data arriving from the United States: the report by Challenger Gray & Christmas highlights a record increase in layoffs in January, while new hires remain low, fueling signs of concern ahead of the employment report. Furthermore, jobless claims rose by 22 to 231, compared to expectations of 212.
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Nasdaq plunges into the red as Bitcoin continues to fall.
Wall Street is the first to suffer, immediately dragging down European stock markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1,3% at around 17 p.m. Italian time, and the Nasdaq is doing even worse, having already had a dramatic week and plummeting another 1,8% today, just before the markets close in Europe. This is proof thatthe tech sector remains under pressure: just consider that Alphabet (Google) is down more than 4% despite better-than-expected results (but penalized by massive investments in artificial intelligence). Nvidia has been in free fall for days, down 1,2% today, Tesla down 3,7%, Amazon down 4,3%, Microsoft down 3,4%, and Apple down 1%. In this scenario the dollar recovers a little against the euro, returning to an exchange rate of 1,17, while Bitcoin continues to fall, losing another 9% today, well below $70.000, its lowest value in almost two years.
Piazza Affari Sinks: Here Are the Worst Stocks
If Sparta cries, Athens doesn't laugh. On this side of the Atlantic, in fact. European stock markets are plummeting, on the day when the ECB, as predicted, leave interest rates unchanged of reference, and so does the BoE, the English central bank. The Ftse Mib lost more than 2% but recovered to -1,76% in the final analysis. at 45.800 points. The worst performer is Stellantis -5,7%, followed by banks with Unicredit -4,2%, Intesa Sanpaolo -3,7%, Finecobank -2,3%, Mediobanca -2%, MPS -1,5%. The only two stocks gaining more than 2%, in clear contrast, are Amplifon and Inwit. Paris limits the damage compared to Milan -0,3%, but on the French stock market, Stellantis also collapses by more than 5% and, again, Credit Agricole -2,8%. Frankfurt -0,7%, Madrid -2%. In this context of strong financial turbulence, the BTP-Bund spread rises above 60 points based on the yield on our benchmark 10-year government bond at 3,47%.
Among raw materials, silver is doing very badly, but gold and oil are also sliding.
It's also a bad day for commodities. Oil is down more than 3%, with WTI Crude Oil nearing $63 a barrel and Brent crude approaching $67 a barrel. Uranium, lithium, and platinum are down between 5% and 6%, but prices are even worse. Silver falls 14% below $80 an ounce, trading in the $75-$76 an ounce range as of this writing. Gold, the ultimate safe haven, is faring slightly better, having just enjoyed a phenomenal rally but now taking a breather. Today it is devalued by almost 120 dollars an ounce, moving to around $4.850 an ounce.
