Stock exchanges, war in Iran and energy shock also weigh down Wall Street. Only Milan (+0.4%) saved in the eighth week

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - European stock exchanges closed in the red as oil and gas prices reared their heads. In a session characterised by much volatility once again investors focused on the conflict in the Middle East and the consequences it is having. Beginning, as mentioned, with the rise in the price of crude oil: the Brent is back above the 100 dollar per barrel mark, the Wti in the 97 dollar area. Same script for gas, which in Amsterdam is back above 50 euros per megawatt hour. Thus Milan ended the session down 0.3%, Paris down 0.9% and Frankfurt down 0.65%;

Also on the geopolitical front in Europe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's announcement about the US Treasury Department's go-ahead for a temporary authorisation to allow countries to buy Russian oil currently stranded at sea caused perplexity. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz branded the move as 'wrong' since it allows the Kremlin to increase its revenue by profiting from the war in Iran. The BTp/Bund spread closed higher at 81 points, on the day that Fitch gives its report card on Italy's public debt.

If the first week of the US-Iran conflict was also a shock for the European markets, in the second eighth week the Old Continent's stock markets at least managed to limit their losses. Resisting the declines this time was only theMilan Stock Exchange, the only one among the big ones in the positive, which ended the week with an overall gain of 0.4%. Also limiting the damage were Madrid, which gave up 0.1%, and London (-0.2%), while Frankfurt (-0.6%) and Paris (-1%) slipped further to the bottom.

In terms of the FTSE Mib stocks, Lottomatica (+20.6%) shone in the weekly report on the back of the positive trend following the publication of the 2025 accounts, Eni (+13.7%), which benefited from record oil prices, and Leonardo (+12.8%), thanks to purchases in the Defence division. On the other hand, Amplifon (-20.2%), Stellantis (-17.7%) and Mediobanca (-14.6%) lost share as they grappled with the merger project with Mps, which was given the go-ahead by their respective boards of directors in recent days. But what stole the show in the markets were above all crude oil prices, due to the halt in the Strait of Hormuz and the conflict in the Middle East, with the North Sea Brent (+8.5%) and the Wti (+6.5%) .

Wall Street closed the session in negative territory, with uncertainties pending in the Middle East and rising oil prices, marking the third week in a row of declines: the Dow Jones dropped 0.26%, to 46,558.47 points, while the Nasdaq lost 0.93%, to 22,105.36. The S&P 500 also did badly, falling to 6,632.19 points (-0.61%), with a loss of about 5% from recent highs. The US economy, in fact, recorded a strong slowdown in the fourth quarter of 2025. According to the Commerce Department's release, US gross domestic product grew 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the second reading, against expectations of 1.5% and after a first reading of +1.4%. Weighing on the quarterly figure was thelong shutdown, or the closure of non-essential government activities due to lack of funds, which occurred between October and November. In contrast, the Pce (personal consumption expenditures price index), the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, grew 0.3% in January from the previous month, in line with expectations. Compared to a year earlier, it rose 2.8 percent, against expectations for a 2.9 percent confirmation from the previous month. The 'core' component of the figure, stripped of volatile elements, rose 0.4 per cent month-on-month, in line with expectations, and 3.1 per cent year-on-year, in line with expectations. On US equities, Adobe's stock plummeted after Barclays downgraded it following news that its CEO, Shantanu Narayen, will step down once his successor is named. The drop also Ulta Beauty which is worst on the S&P 500, after the beauty products retailer reported mixed results.