Trump's ultimatum to Iran dampens stock exchanges. Wall Street closes weak

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - U.S. President Donald Trump's ultimatum to Iran advises caution to investors, who are waiting to see how the situation in the Middle East will evolve before taking a position, thus dragging down stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic. Wall Street's main indices fell, as did Europe's major stock markets: Milan closed down 0.47%, with Leonardo (-8%) at the bottom of the list; Paris ended with a loss of 0.9%, Frankfurt 1% and Madrid 0.67%. This, ahead of the deadline set by Trump before unleashing a new wave of attacks on Tehran's civilian infrastructure, at 2am Italian time. Trump wrote on his social Truth: "An entire civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back to life again. I don't want it to happen, but it will probably happen', reducing the chances of an agreement and especially of the opening of the Strait within the agreed deadline. Furthermore, the US, according to Axios reports, struck military targets on the Iranian island of Kharg, the flagship of the country's oil production capabilities. The attack took place several hours before the deadline set by President Trump for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz (by 2am Italian time), on pain of a wave of destruction against Iranian civilian infrastructure.

Wall Street closes mixed as the countdown towards the latest deadline set by President Donald Trump to destroy Iranian power plants and bridges continues. The Dow Jones gave up 0.2% while the S&P 500 gained 0.09% and the Nasdaq 0.1%. Movements were hesitant, just as they have been since the beginning of the war with Iran, due to the deep uncertainty as to when the fighting might end. During the first hour of trading on Tuesday, the Dow fluctuated between a gain of 74 points and a loss of 425. Oil prices were also volatile. The price of a barrel of US benchmark crude oil with delivery in May briefly rose above $117 before settling at $112.95, up 0.5 per cent. The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, with delivery slightly later in the year, in June, fell 0.5 % to $109.27. But it is still well above the level of about $70 recorded before the start of the war in late February.

Oil prices consolidated their gains after a volatile morning. Wti futures advanced over 116 dollars per barrel with an increase of around 4% and Brent futures are around 110 dollars. Gas in Amsterdam is also running at EUR 53 per megawatt hour (+6%). On the currency market, the euro is up by '.3% against the dollar at 1.157. The single currency is also worth 185.07 yen (+0.49%), while the dollar is up 0.19% against the Japanese currency at 159.92.

Stmicroelectronics (+4.2%) closed at the top of the main stock market at Piazza Affari on the back of Samsung's accounts and the positive outlook for AI chip sales. Purchases were also made on Fincantieri (+1.3%), which benefited from the partnership in the US on the one hand, and from Jefferies' raising of its rating to Buy from Hold on the other. Leonardo (-8%) plunged following rumours about the Italian government's decision not to confirm CEO Roberto Cingolani at the helm of the company. Also hurt were Moncler (-4.1%), Stellantis (-3.89%), Diasorin (-3.7%) and Ferrari (-2.96%). Outside the main basket, Bff recovered 21%, while Newprinces jumped 13.28% in the wake of the announcement of a "significant" acceleration in the share buyback programme, "in view of the current valuation level of the share and the group's solid financial position". Fidia, on the other hand, fell 18.81%.

The BTP/Bund spread closed higher in a session affected by the rise in government bond yields on the euro curve after the US president issued an ultimatum to Iran. At the end of the session the yield differential between the benchmark ten-year BTp and the German peer maturity stood at 91 points from 87 last Thursday. The yield on the benchmark ten-year BTp also rose sharply to 3.99% from 3.86% at Thursday's close, the last official session before the Easter break.