The prospects for a truce in the Middle East are short-lived, and indeed yet another ultimatum from Donald Trump to Iran, with far from reassuring tones ("Accept the US plan or I'll destroy you overnight"), is once again troubling financial markets in the post-Easter Monday session. The skirmishes between Washington and Tehran and, above all, the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz are causingor a new rise in the price of oilGiven that WTI Crude Oil has overtaken Brent, the former rose nearly 4% today, touching $117 a barrel, while the latter largely consolidated at $110 a barrel, albeit with a smaller percentage increase. Gas is also rallying: the European TTF is gaining more than 6% to 53 euros/MWh. To complete the picture on raw materials, a weak session for gold and especially for silver: the first is substantially unchanged in the 4.650 dollar per ounce area, the second drops to 70 dollars.
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All European stock markets are in the red: only Stm is soaring on Piazza Affari, while Leonardo is sharply down.
The geopolitical scenario is sending all major stock markets into the red, except for Tokyo's Nikkei index, which closed flat this morning. In Europe, Frankfurt's plunge of 1% to below 23.000 points is noteworthy, but it closes Other stock markets on the continent are also in the redMilan -0,47%, Paris -0,7%, London -0,8%, Amsterdam -0,5%, Euro Stoxx 50 index -1%. Piazza Affari, however, limited the damage somewhat, defending the 45.000 point level thanks also to the exploit, in clear contrast, of Stmicroelectronics +4,2%. Fincantieri +1,3% and Telecom Italia +0,8% also performed well, and a few banks, such as Intesa Sanpaolo +0,9% and Bper +0,3%, were saved. However, the stock market was in deep red. Leonardo -8% on the increasingly insistent rumors of a change at the helm of the Italian defense giant. Following the rumors of recent weeks, various press sources are reporting that CEO Roberto Cingolani will not be confirmed for a new three-year term. Tensions are also increasing BTP Bund spread at 90 basis points, with the yield on our 10-year BTP approaching 4%.
Wall Street also got off to a terrible start. Tech stocks on the Nasdaq and Bitcoin fell, while the euro strengthened against the dollar.
A very negative session also for Wall Street overseas. As European stock markets closed, the Dow Jones index fell by around 0,8%, as did the S&P 500, while The Nasdaq Composite Index is doing even worse -1,3%, with technology stocks almost all in deep red: Tesla -4%, Apple -4,2%, Nvidia -1,5%, Amazon -1%, Meta -1,2%. Only Alphabet is safe at +0,1% for now. Another significant devaluation instead for the Bitcoin down about 2,6% at $68.000, after surpassing $69.000 during the session. Speaking of the dollar, the euro strengthened against the U.S. dollar today, bringing the exchange rate to 1,157.
