Piazza Affari traps almost +1% at the end of the eighth, pink jersey in Europe

Milan closes at the top of the Old Continent stock exchanges, with the Ftse Mib up 0.99% to 27,778.32 points. Among the most capitalized companies in Piazza Affari, Saipem (+4.7%), Iveco (+3.7%), Finecobank (+3%) and Bper Banca (+2.7%) stand out, while Amplifon (-1 .7%) Terna (-0.9%) and Inwit (-0.8%). Meanwhile, Wall Street was slow following June’s job market data. The Labor Department report highlighted lower-than-expected but still high non-farm payrolls (209,000), an unemployment rate down to 3.6% and sustained growth in average hourly wages (+4.4% year-on-year ). Numbers that show a partial cooling but still leave room for another rate hike by the Fed in September, after the July tightening now taken for granted. Meanwhile, in Europe, German industrial production recorded a monthly decline of 0.2% in May, reviving fears of a third consecutive contraction in GDP in the second quarter of the year. In Italy, retail sales in May grew surprisingly by 0.7% quarter-on-quarter. Yields down on shorter maturities, with the US two-year bond at 4.91% while the ten-year bond remains in the 4.03% area. In Europe, the Btp-Bund spread contracted to 171 basis points, with the Italian 10-year bond down to 4.34%. On Forex, the euro/dollar climbs back to 1.095 and the dollar/yen falls to 142.3. In commodities, Brent oil exceeded $77 a barrel, heading for a second weekly gain after Saudi Arabia and Russia cut supplies and US crude stockpiles dwindled.