European stock exchanges closed weak. Wall Street closes mixed
The fate of Mps (+12.96%) is being watched in Piazza Affari. Meanwhile, chips bounce on Wall Street. Oil and gas prices rise after mutual attacks between Israel and Iran
by Chiara Di Michele and Giorgia Colucci
Key points
(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The banking risk "fever" sustains the exchanges at Piazza Affari, which closes with the pink jersey up 0.6% in a session marked by weakness for the European stock exchanges. News from the Middle East front continued to affect market sentiment and the price of oil, which moved higher despite signs of de-escalation, with US President Donald Trump attempting to maintain a fragile ceasefire following attacks between Iran and Israel. Investor attention also remains focused on macro data, ahead of the release of US inflation for May (Wednesday), following strong labour market data on Friday, which fuelled fears of a Fed rate hike in the coming months.
Wall Street closes contrasted
Wall Street missed the rebound and closed with contrasts on the tensions in the Middle East between Israel and Iran, while Washington and Teheran tried to find a way out of the negotiation stalemate: the Dow Jones dropped 0.16%, to 50,786.01 points, while the Nasdaq recovered part of Friday's losses (-4%) and rose 0.86%, to 25,929.66. The S&P 500 also rose, to 7,405.73 points (+0.30%).
Milan returns to risk, Mps flies
At the Milan Stock Exchange, Mps (+12.96%) and Mediobanca (+11.98%) had a great day after Intesa Sanpaolo (-1.37%) launched a takeover bid for the Siena-based bank, in a deal with Unipol (+4.5%), which will take over 635 branches to be merged with Bper (+5.18%). The offer, which at Friday's closing values incorporated a 12.5% premium, became a 1.5% discount following today's movements. Also on the table is the proposal announced yesterday by Banco Bpm (+0.83%) for a merger of equals with Rocca Salimbeni, details of which, however, were not provided. The long wave of transactions also involves Generali (+2.8%), given that Mediobanca holds a 13% stake in the Lion of Trieste and that, in addition, Intesa has announced the purchase of around 3% of its capital. Unicredit (-2%), struggling primarily with the Commerzabank bid, closed in the red at the bottom of the list. Among other stocks, Stmicroelectronics (+4%) recovered on the back of a recovery in tech stocks on Wall Street after Friday's slide.
Oil up, euro at $1.15
The oil price rallies again but then pulls the brake, as tensions in the Middle East return. The August contract for Brent is around USD 94 per barrel, after it had touched USD 98 in the morning; the equivalent of Wti is currently at USD 92. Ttf gas is also on the upswing, trading at over EUR 49 per megawatt hour in Amsterdam. Spot gold moved little at $4,300 an ounce, while bitcoin rebounded to around $63,000 after its low of $59,000 at the weekend. On the currency, the euro at around $1.153.
The new oil rises were influenced by a series of attacks between Israel and Iran, while at the centre remains the failed truce between Israel and Lebanon. Tehran's missiles were fired at northern Israel in response to IDF raids against Hezbollah, then Israel struck military targets in western and central Iran. The US did not take part in the attacks against Iran, according to a US official.
