by Verità&Affari editorial team
European stock markets closed in the red in a session in which fears of an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, with growing tensions between Iran and Israel, weighed heavily. As the S&P Global Ratings agency notes, the outlook “will depend on the nature and extent of the Israeli response in the coming days” with the medium-term trajectory “remaining full of risks, given the enormous challenges to be faced in finding a path to de -escalation”. In this context, the member of the National Security Committee of the Iranian Parliament, Abolfazl Amouei, warned that, in the event of an Israeli reaction after last weekend’s attacks, Iran is “ready to use a weapon never used Before”. The Ftse Mib of Milan thus leaves 1.65% on the ground, despite the fact that Istat has revised the March inflation data downwards (+1.2% from +1.3% preliminary), while the IMF forecasts that the Italian economy will grow at a rate of 0.7% in both 2024 and 2025. Concerns about the geopolitical context add to the apprehension about a postponement of the Fed’s easing of monetary tightening, after retail sales in the USA in March were more dynamic than expected: the Cme Group’s FedWatch Tool which sees the chances of a first interest rate cut in June slip to just over 20% from 56.1% a week ago. Overseas, the yield on Treasury bonds is still rallying, at the highs of 2024, with that of the 10-year bond above 4.6%, while the quarterly reporting season continues with Bank of America and Morgan Stanley beating analysts’ estimates.
Gas and oil are rising
On the stock market in Piazza Affari, in a red list, Amplifon (+0.91%) are holding on, thanks to the positive report from Barclays analysts, and Leonardo (+0.18%); trailing Stellantis (-2.98%) on the day of the annual general meeting for the approval of the financial statements. Prysmian (-2.52%) and St (-2.14%) were also heavy, penalized by the drop in sales of Apple – its main customer – in the first quarter. On the currency market, the euro trades at 1.0624 dollars (from 1.0635 the day before). Gold, after the record reached on Friday at 2,431 dollars an ounce, reaches 2,400 dollars. Oil is rising again, with May WTI at 85.64 dollars a barrel (+0.28%%) and June Brent at 90.28 dollars (+0.2%). Natural gas rose sharply to 33.6 euros per megawatt hour (+8%).
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