This sort of stalling continues on the stock markets, as we wait for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to finally speak this evening, after the American central bank makes its decision on interest rates. European stock markets close weak Wall Street is also moving close to parity, betting on a 25 basis point cut in interest rates, but also aware that the Fed's board is split between hawks and doves and that the future of monetary policy remains uncertain in the US, while speculation is beginning to emerge that the easing phase in many other countries (including the eurozone) has reached its end. For ECB President Christine Lagarde, the bloc's economy "is performing better than feared" and on interest rates "we are still in a good position."
Piazza Affari lost 0,25% and fell to 43.465 basis points., weighed down primarily by Ferrari. The Prancing Horse lost 4,4%, following Morgan Stanley's new coverage with a neutral rating and Jefferies' cut to its target price. Lottomatica rose to the top three, +2,45%. The other major European markets are not far behind Milan's performance: Frankfurt -0,19%, Paris -0,37%, and Amsterdam +0,35%. Madrid rose +0,16% and London +0,12%.
Wall Street looks to Oracle
Wall Street is currently showing mixed results: DJI +0,53%, S&P 500 +0,11%, Nasdaq -0,18%. Among the stocks in focus is Oracle (-0,37%), which will later release its quarterly performance, which is very interesting given that the giant, along with Nvidia, is considered a litmus test for the prospects of artificial intelligence. Microsoft and Intel are weak today.
As for the Fed we will look at the 'dot-plots' These will clarify the governors' positions within the board, while the largest bets on further cuts in 2026 have dropped to two, and for now, no cuts are expected in 2027. Some indications will also come next week and on January 9th from the employment data, which will be useful for the new meeting on January 28th, taking into account that Powell's term expires in late spring and that the next president will be closer to Donald Trump, who has long called for a more accommodative monetary policy.
Silver still shines and updates the record
In such a wait-and-see environment, investors are closely monitoring the performance of silver, an anti-hero that has gained 110% this year—outperforming gold—and which, after yesterday's surge, updated its all-time high a few hours ago at $62,135 an ounce, before falling back to yesterday's levels. Spot gold is trading slightly lower, but still close to $4200 an ounce. Oil remains under pressure and shows fractional declines: WTI, expiring in January, is trading below 58 dollars and Brent, expiring in February 2026, is at 61,47 dollars.
On the currency The euro-dollar exchange rate is floating at 1,1636, while the yen remains under close scrutiny ahead of next week's BoJ meeting, where a 0,25% rate hike is expected. After hitting a record low against the euro and threatening to slide against the dollar, the Japanese currency is currently holding its ground. The dollar is down 0,16%, trading at 156,51.
Piazza Affari, profits on Leonardo; banks challenged
Among the blue chips on the Milan Stock Exchange, Leonardo lost ground today -1,66%, following a strong session, while Kiev expressed openness to a possible co-production of drones with the Italian company. Profit taking also penalizes Fincantieri (-3,62%), buoyant since the news of its inclusion in the FTSE MIB was made official. Banks are mixed today: Unicredit appreciates +1,55%, Bper +0,68%, Banco Bpm +0,57%, while MPS falls again, -0,46%, after the recent recovery. Mediobanca is flat, +0,03%, and profits weigh on Generali, -0,91%.
Among the biggest gainers of the day were Prysmian +2,4%, Finecobank +1,36%, Stellantis +0,71%. Campari made people talk about it, +0,49%, as Reuters reports that the company's Luxembourg holding company, Lagfin, is negotiating with the Italian tax authorities to settle a tax dispute by paying approximately €400 million. According to Intermonte, "the news, if confirmed, would help reduce governance uncertainty by eliminating an element of overhang related to the seizure of shares held by the main shareholder." Among the biggest decliners of the day were Inwit -1,96%, Recordati -1,75%, Interpump -1,56%, and Buzzi -1,45%.
Spread slightly rising
Italian paper also closed a slightly negative session, with the The spread between 10-year BTPs and 10-year Bunds is just over 70 points. base (still close to the lowest levels since 2009) with rates of 3,56% and 2,86% respectively.
Today many events were recorded statements by ECB President Lagarde, who participated in an event organized by the Financial Times. In particular, he emphasized the possibility of a revision of the projections. "In the last few forecasts, we revised our projections upward. I suspect we might do so again in December. I won't discuss it because that's next week, but the euro area is holding up better than we predicted in April." On monetary policy, "we are still in a good position," with inflation at 2% and expectations for it to remain there in the coming months.
The president also returned to Eurobonds to finance defense: "We did it for Covid; it was a matter of survival. Defense is equally a matter of survival, so it's a perfect application for a joint issuance" of debt. Meanwhile, the EU may have found the legal basis to permanently immobilize up to 210 billion euros of Russian sovereign assets, thus bypassing the six-monthly renewal of the sanctions regime.
