September gets off to a sluggish start without the beacon of Wall Street, in Milan (+0.5%) Leonardo runs

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The European stock markets, which, without the guidance of a Wall Street closed for Labor Day, opened the month of September with limited movements as they await the macroeconomic events scheduled for the week. Investors will be looking in particular at the Eurozone inflation, scheduled for Tuesday, 2 September, while on Friday it will be the turn of the US labour market report. The data will of course be analysed with an eye on the Fed summit: at the moment the market considers it 89.7 per cent likely, according to Cme FedWatch calculations, that the central bank will cut interest rates by 25 basis points on 17 September. Piazza Affari's FTSE MIB managed to end the day on an uptrend amid an overall mixed continental landscape.

Returning to the macro front, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East remain under scrutiny, while in Europe, the focus is on France, which is preparing for the confidence vote on 8 September against Prime Minister François Bayrou.

Turning to Milanese equities, the day's pink jersey goes to Leonardo - Finmeccanica , which is toning up along with the entire European defence sector. Also doing well was Telecom Italia , after BlackRock climbed to 5.1% of the company's share capital (from the previous 4.977%), a stake it has held since 26 August and not yet notified to Consob. The banking sector remains in focus, on the day when the board meeting of Banca Mps with on the agenda the possible upward adjustment of the offer launched on Mediobanca on 24 January. Still buying on , toned down along with the entire European defence sector. At the back of the list, utilities were weak, while profit-taking hit Brunello Cucinelli . Down also Azimut .

On the currency, little movement was seen in the euro/dollar exchange rate: the single currency was just above 1.17, at 1.1705 from 1.1699 at the close on Friday. The euro then crossed the yen at 172.36 (from 171.86), while the dollar/yen ratio was at 147.27 (from 146.90). On the energy front, the price of oil: the October Wti future rose 1.11% to $64.72 a barrel, while the November Brent contract gained 0.1% to $68.19. Natural gas on the Ttf platform in Amsterdam rose 2.3 percent to 32.3 euros per megawatt hour.

The prospect of a Fed rate cut continued to support gold prices, which rose to their highest level since April, touching $3,490 an ounce before settling at $3,476. Demand for the yellow metal was also fuelled as a safe haven asset by concerns over Fed independence and US tariffs in light of President Donald Trump's recent moves. "San Francisco Fed Chair Mary Daly's accommodative comments helped traders look past the higher Pce figure released on Friday and left the door open for a 25 basis point rate cut this month," notes City Index senior analyst Matt Simpson. In a social media post on Friday, Daly reiterated his support for a rate cut, given the risks to the labour market. People are now looking to the release of the US jobs report, due on Friday, to get a more complete picture of the scenario on the table for the US central bank. A US appeals court also ruled most of the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump illegal, further weighing on the dollar and driving gold to new heights. Silver also rose, with the spot contract at its highest level since September 2011.