The main European stock exchanges ended the session just below parity. On Piazza Affari the Ftse Mib closed down by 0.3% at 30,351.62 points. Purchases on Recordati (+0.8%), UniCredit (+0.7%) and Banca Mediolanum (+0.6%) while Telecom (-1.7%) and Mps (-1.4%) retreated.
Eurozone inflation will be published next week (Friday) with figures for France and Germany available from Thursday. Also on Friday in the USA we will have data on the labor market with new jobs expected to decline and the unemployment rate to rise slightly (3.8% from 3.7%).
On bonds, the Bund yield rises above 2% and that of the BTP to 3.68%, with a spread rising to 168 basis points. The US 10-year Treasury rose to 3.85%.
On the Forex, the euro/dollar drops to 1.105 and the dollar/yen retreats below 141. Among raw materials, Brent rises to 77.7 dollars a barrel, while gold consolidates the area of 2,080 dollars an ounce.