Another subdued session for the European stock exchanges, while Wall Street travels mixed. In Piazza Affari, the Ftse Mib closed down by 0.9% to 28,702 points, with sales above all on Bper (-4.1%) and Tim (-3.9%) after their respective results. Iveco Group (+1.9%) and Interpump (+1.1%) went against the trend.
The Nasdaq (+0.1%) and the S&P500 (-0.15%) moved little after the data on unemployment claims, still at low levels, and the ISM index, which signals expansion at a slower pace in July. The accounts of Apple and Amazon are out tonight, while the report on the job market for July will be published tomorrow.
In the morning, the European PMI indices were released, which portray a eurozone economy in decline, with the worsening of the contraction in manufacturing and the almost reaching a stalemate in the services sector.
The Bank of England also met during the day, raising the cost of money by 25 basis points to 5.25% and signaling that the United Kingdom will face a prolonged period of higher rates.
On Forex, the euro/dollar remains essentially stable at 1.095 and the dollar/yen slips to 142.3. Among the raw materials, oil (Brent) rose by 2% to 84.9 dollars a barrel, after Saudi Arabia extended its production cuts to September as well.
On bonds, the Btp-Bund spread stands at around 166 bp with the Italian 10-year bond rising to 4.23%.