EU stock exchanges hung up on tariffs negotiations. Wall Street closes positive after Trump's denial on Powell

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - European stock exchanges held back in a session dominated by uncertainty. The markets, having archived the eve's data on rising US inflation, returned to focus on the question of tariffs, but the signals coming in are mixed. If the trip to Washington by the EU Trade Commissioner and EU chief negotiator, Maros Sefcovic, gives hope for an agreement by 1 August, the statements by the US President, Donald Trump, cool tempers. Yesterday the tycoon declared 'we are making progress with the EU, I think we will all be happy', but today he again threatened to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as early as 1 August. As a result, markets remained at the window, waiting to see what the next moves will be, with Milan closing down -0.4% and remaining below the 40,000 point mark. Paris (-0.6%) was weighed down by the slide in Renault, which was penalised by a profit warning on its year-end accounts. While the Frankfurt DAX 30 ended trading just above par (+0.07%).

Overseas, Wall Street closed positive after Donald Trump denied he would fire Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The Dow Jones gained 0.53% to 44,254.78 points, the Nasdaq rose 0.25% to 20,730.49 points while the S&P 500 rose 0.32% to 6,263.69 points. All this after a mixed day, pending more quarterly reports and new inflation data. In particular Bank of America reported earnings above expectations, but revenues below consensus. The stock, however, is up in the premarket. Goldman Sachs also beat analysts' forecasts. On the macro front, it was announced thatUS producer prices were unchanged on a monthly basis and up 2.3% year-on-year in June, while industrial production in June was +0.3%, above estimates.

On the stock market, Tim (+1.45%) did well at Piazza Affari, benefiting from the agreement reached by the company with the trade unions. Banks were weak, with Banco Bpm at +0.05%% while waiting for Unicredit (-0.4%) moves on the takeover bid. At the tail end Stellantis (-6.2%), which was affected by the profit warning issued by rival Renault (-17.4% in Paris). According to the experts, the reasons behind the revision are attributable to the general deterioration of the market. Added to this is the announcement of the stop to the hydrogen vehicle project.

On the foreign exchange front, the euro flew above $1.17 on rumours of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's dismissal and then retraced to $1.163. Trump later denied the rumours. Bitcoin climbed 1 per cent to $118,971, after an eve-long slump. A volatile day for oil with Brent and Wti giving up more than a percentage point. Gold climbed to $3,335 an ounce, while gas approached 35 euros per megawatt hour in Amsterdam (+1.3%).

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 ten-year peer was 89 basis points, one point higher than the eve's closing. On the other hand, the yield on the benchmark ten-year BTp fell to 3.58%, from 3.60% on the eve of the meeting.