Markets

Stock exchanges, Wall Street in the red with AI doubts and credit turmoil. Europe on highs

Above-expected US producer prices in January put off Fed rate cut. Nvidia still down in New York, Block and Dell jumped. Netflix and Paramount rallied after the Warner challenge. Oil and gold up, euro above $1.18

by Ivan Torneo and Paolo Paronetto

27 February 2026

La Borsa, gli indici del 27 febbraio 2026

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4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The European stock markets closed the month of February on highs, rewarded by an influx of capital outflows from the US due to the new tariffs chaos and geopolitical tensions. While the New York stock markets are on their way to closing their worst month since March 2025, the Stoxx 600 Europe index reached a new all-time high and ended the eighth consecutive month on an uptrend, the best streak since 2013. Rising risk aversion instead rewarded safe assets, starting with US Treasuries, which saw the yield on the 10-year fall below the 4 per cent threshold for the first time since November.

On Wall Street, meanwhile, Friday's session continued in the red, penalised by fears over the sustainability of the artificial intelligence rally, also in light of the disruption in the credit market after the failure of Market Financial Solutions.

In the technology sector, Nvidia's new drop was countered by rallies from Block, which will cut 4,000 jobs due to the impact of AI, and Dell (+21.33%) thanks to the prospect of selling servers linked to artificial intelligence. Also in the spotlight was Netflix, which backed out of the acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, which will instead be taken over by Paramount, itself rewarded with a 23.57% jump.

Share Price +3.7% in February

Returning to monthly performances, the Milan Ftse Mib gained +3.7% in February (+1.6% in the last week). London (+6.7%) and Paris (+5.6%) did even better, while Frankfurt rose 3.2%, Amsterdam 2.5% and Madrid 2.7%.

On the Milan stock market, the big protagonists were the oil companies. The sharpest rises were concentrated on Tenaris (+23.2% and +40% since the start of 2025), in good company with Eni (+14.1%) and Saipem (+14.8% and +47.2% since the start of the year). Widespread buying was also seen in Inwit (+20.9%), Moncler (+19.2%) and St. John's (+19.2%). Just behind in sprint also Ferrari (+14.5%). On the opposite side, Stellantis (-16.2% in the month and -26.6% since the beginning of the year), FinecoBank (-10.6%) and Fincantieri (-9.8%) were heavy.

EU stock markets contrasted on Friday with fears over AI

Continental stock exchanges ended the session on Friday 27thon a contrasting note, while fears over the resilience of the artificial intelligence rally continued to keep the technology sector under the spotlight and the higher than expected increase in US producer prices in January pushed back the prospect of new interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. On the other hand, the general increase in risk aversion, also linked to the numerous fronts of geopolitical tensions, starting with Ukraine and Iran, is fuelling purchases of government bonds, with a parallel drop in yields: that of the US ten-year Treasury fell even below the 4% threshold, touching the lowest in the last three months.

Returning to the European equities, the FTSE MIB Milanese finished the day below par, suffering in particular from the slide of Banca Mps and its subsidiary Mediobanca , which weighed down the entire sector.

US producer prices +0.5% in January

On the macroeconomic front, producer prices of goods for final consumers increased by a cyclical 0.5% in January after +0.4% in December (revised from the previous +0.5%). The figure released by the Bureau of Labour Statistics exceeded analysts' expectations, who had expected a smaller increase of 0.3 per cent. The 'core' index, on the other hand, rose less than expected, registering +0.3 per cent compared to the +0.4 per cent estimated by the consensus.

Mps falls after plan. Netflix snaps on Wall Street

On the Milanese Ftse Mib, eyes remained focused on Mps, on the day the bank unveiled its new 2026-2030 business plan with the integration of Mediobanca, an operation that is expected to unleash around EUR 700 million in synergies. The bank announced that it will distribute EUR 16 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends over the course of the plan and estimates adjusted net profit at the end of the plan at EUR 3.7 billion. On the other hand, the upward march of Eni, which has been on the defensive since the eve of the event, driven by the 2025 accounts, continued. Prysmian , which on Thursday had given a lukewarm reception to the 2025 accounts, posted a good rise instead. Also doing well were Saipem and Buzzi Unicem , while the entire banking sector was weak, also penalised by the turbulence in European credit after the bankruptcy of UK-based Market financial solutions.

On Wall Street Netflix jumped to the upside after giving up its acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, which will instead go to Paramount. AI bubble fears, however, did not stop OpenAi from closing a new record funding round, raising $110 billion. The New York Stock Exchange also saw double-digit jumps for fintech company Block, which announced it would cut 4,000 jobs as a result of the impact of artificial intelligence, and Dell, which announced prospects for AI server sales exceeding market forecasts. Wall Street closed negative. The Dow Jones gave up 1.05% to DJIA 48977.92 points, the Nasdaq dropped 0.92% to 22,668.21 points, and the S&P 500 lost 0.43% to 6,878.84 points.

Oil rises, gold up. Euro above $1.18

With regard to commodities, oil rose: the April contract for Wti stood at USD 66.58 per barrel (+2.1%) and that for Brent gained 2.45% to USD 72.48, while waiting for the decisions to be taken by Opec+. Meanwhile, the hope is that talks between the US and Iran will continue next week. On the other hand, natural gas slipped 0.8 percent to €31.9 per megawatt hour in Amsterdam.

Risk aversion rewards gold, with the spot contract rising 0.91% to $5,228 an ounce.

On the currency market, the euro travelled to $1.1820 (from $1.1794 on Thursday's close). The single currency also changed hands at 184.4 yen (from 184.2), while the dollar/yen ratio was at 156.00 (from 156.19).

Spread at 62 points, 10-year yield down

On bonds, the spread between the BTp and Bund closed slightly higher. At the end of the session, the yield differential between the benchmark ten-year BTp and the German Bund of the same duration stood at 62 basis points, up 1 point from yesterday's close. On the other hand, the yield on the benchmark ten-year BTp fell slightly to 3.28%, down from 3.30% at the previous benchmark.

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