The European stock exchange of the moment is definitely the Milan one, galvanized in these days by the new chapter of the banking risk, that is Intesa Sanpaolo's takeover bid for MPS-Mediobanca, which would give birth to a credit giant. The FTSE MIB also reached a record high of 51.000 points today., but in the end it deflated a bit and closed gaining only 0,11% at 50.200 points. Banking and insurance stocks were once again the protagonists of the day: the same MPS +2,6% and Mediobanca +3%, but also Unipol +4,7%, Bper +2,9%, Generali +2,1%The Lion of Trieste is potentially heavily involved in the operation being planned by Intesa: today, meanwhile, there is news that Stefan Lehmann, Country Manager Germany at Generali, has sold 23.571 shares of the insurance company, worth almost 1 million euros. Intesa Sanpaolo +0,91%. Stm drops -6%..
Nasdaq deflates: (Almost) all AI stocks fall
Contrary to Piazza Affari, it is a bad day for the American Stock Exchange: the Dow Jones seemed to limit the damage, but S&P 500 -1,2% and above all Nasdaq Composite Index -2% are moving decidedly in negative territory, weighed down by theArtificial intelligence that today abruptly slows its rallyAmong the most traded stocks are Micron -1,6% and Nvidia -1,1%, but Marvell -8%, Qualcomm -6,5%, Palantir -2,7% are also doing badly. In the semiconductor sector, only Sandisk +4,6% bucks the trend.Some of the big tech companies are also in the red: Apple is the worst performer with -3%, while Meta is up 1,4%. Amazon is on par. The stock plunges again. Bitcoin that I'm not going through a good phase: today falls to $61.000, the lowest since October 2024.
Other European stock markets, the euro-dollar exchange rate, the spread
Other European stock markets were mixed but still less positive than Piazza Affari: Paris +0,05%, Frankfurt -0,8%, London -1,3%. On the CAC40 in Paris, luxury stocks performed exceptionally well: EssilorLuxottica +3,8%, Kering +2,5%, Lvmh +2%The rise of French benchmark stocks is also boosting ours: Brunello Cucinelli +1,7%, Moncler +2%. The euro strengthens slightly against the US dollar, bringing the exchange rate to the 1,156 zone. The BTP-Bund spread narrows slightly, currently standing at 76 basis points., with the yield on our 10-year BTP remaining almost unchanged at 3,82%.
Commodities: WTI oil below $90, gold at its lowest since December
Evidently the markets are seeing positive signals from the crisis in the Middle East and the first effect is that oil is losing a lot today: WTI Crude Oil is losing more than 4% to 87 dollars a barrel, Brent, on the other hand, defends the 90 dollars a barrel, but it's clear the tide is turning. European natural gas prices have declined more cautiously, but remain very close to €49 per megawatt-hour. Gold is no longer in fashion and today it is even peeking below 4.300 dollars an ounce, the lowest since last December.Silver -3% to $66 an ounce.
