Stock exchanges, Wall Street closes negative: Nasdaq -2.01%. Wti oil +2.2%. Europe burns 1.7 trillion in three weeks

Renewed fears of an escalation over land in the Iran war weighed on theEuropean stock exchanges, with Wall Street falling and Europe also closing the last session of the week in the red. The FTSE Mib of Milan dropped 1.97% to around 42,840 points, returning to November 2025 levels. According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States is sending three warships and thousands of additional Marines (up to 2,500) to the Middle East, in the second deployment to the region in the last week. All this while President Donald Trump attacks NATO allies, calling them 'cowards' for their lack of support for the ongoing conflict. And on the so-called day of the four witches, with the simultaneous expiry of index and stock futures and index and stock options, the other European stock exchanges also closed negative: Paris -1.8%, Frankfurt -1.9%, London -1.4%, Madrid -1.1% and Amsterdam -1.6%.

Contributing to the sell-off in the stock markets is also the Fed's long wave: after the no-go at last Wednesday's meeting, according to Cme FedWatch data, it is likely that the US central bank will forego cutting rates this year due to a possible surge in inflation linked to the oil glut. The change of view on the central banks' next moves - they may instead opt for a rate hike in the event of a longer-than-expected conflict - dictates the pace of bond markets, withgovernment bond yields rising in both the US and Europe. All this while discontent circulates in Washington as Trump has ventilated the possibility of asking Congress for extra funding for the war. The US president called $200 billion "a small price to pay" for victory.

Wall Street closed lower. The Dow Jones dropped 0.96 per cent to 45,577.47, the Nasdaq fell 2.01 per cent to 21,647.61 points and the S&500 lost 1.51 per cent to 6,506.48 points.

Israel said it is helping the US "with information and other means" to open the Strait of Hormuz, adding that Iran has lost the ability to enrich uranium and produce ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, overseas too, as trillions of dollars in derivatives ('quadruple watching') tend to generate higher trading volumes and more pronounced intraday swings as investors rebalance or close positions.

On the equities front, Ermenegildo Zegna performed particularly well on the Nyse, where the stock posted a rise of over 6%, bucking the general trend of the major indices. The stock of Super Micro Computer, on the other hand, crolled as much as over 28%, after the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York accused several of the company's employees of smuggling Nvidia chips into China.

FedEx, on the other hand, is up slightly thanks to its fiscal third quarter results, which exceeded analysts' expectations. FedEx earned $5.25 per share on revenue of $24 billion, versus expectations for $4.09 per share on $23.43 billion. The company also revised upward its earnings forecast for the full fiscal year.

On the Milan stock market, a new brusque thud for Inwit (-7.5%) after the downward revision of the 2026 guidance and medium-term outlook, decided by the board of directors, which met to analyse the state of relations with Tim (-2.1%) and Fastweb+Vodafone and the JV announced by them to build up to 6,000 towers, considered "in contrast with the MSAs" with Inwit. Enel (-3.2%) and St (-3.5%) also closed with a loss. On the other hand, Buzzi (+0.4%), Tenaris (+1.3%) and Amplifon (+4.2%) performed well in the last session of the week.

In addition, some banks were up, primarily Mediobanca (+1.1%) and Mps (+1.4%). On the other hand, widespread selling was seen in the defence sector with Leonardo (-4.1%) and for the other major banks, especially Unicredit (-3.8%), with Moody's nevertheless confirming its A3 rating, with a stable outlook after the offer on Commerzbank. Luxury closed down in Milan, with purchases on Moncler (+0.7%) on one side and sales on Cucinelli (-2.5%) on the opposite side.

On the energy front, the oil is trending upwards again, with the futures on Brent touching again $110 per barrel and those on Wti above $97 per barrel. Natural gasis trading sharply lower in Amsterdam at around EUR 58 per megawatt hour, while on the currency the cross euro/dollar is trading just above 1.155. Bitcoin is essentially stable at $70,000. Gold, on the other hand, after having been hit on the eve of the event by a wave of selling that pushed it to the lowest in two months - continues to lose and remains below USD 4,600 an ounce in the spot contract.

The session was decidedly complicated for Italian government bonds, which lost ground on the secondary market following renewed fears of an escalation of the war in the Middle East and the economic consequences of the conflict. At the end of the session, the yield differential between the benchmark ten-year BTp and the German ten-year bond stood at 91 basis points, up from 82 points at yesterday's close, returning to levels not seen since September 2025. The return on the benchmark 10-year BTp jumped, underperforming other eurozone bonds of the same maturity, ending the session at 3.94%, approaching the 4% threshold it hasn't crossed since March 2025.