Hormuz announcement war shakes stock exchanges, Milan -1.6%. Wall Street weak, Wti oil +4.3%

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The tensions for theEuropean stock exchanges continue to revolve around Hormuz, which, in fact, remains blocked even if the US and Iran continue with their strategy of cross announcements on the fate of the strait. Declarations interpreted by the stock markets with increasing distrust, as witnessed by the indices in the red and the rally of oil above 113 dollars per barrel (in the case of Brent), with a new acceleration due in part to a drone attack in the United Arab Emirates, which caused a fire at the Fujairah oil facility. Thus, while the treaty between Washington and Tehran thus remains hanging by a thread, there was no shortage of 'panic selling' moments during the session, especially when the Iranian media reported an American frigate hit by two missiles in the Strait (an incident denied by the US). To the list of tensions was then added a South Korean ship that went up in flames after an explosion in the area while, at the same time, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent assured that the US would have 'full control' of Hormuz. Not to mention observers' doubts about Donald Trump's 'Project Freedom' to help ships leave the Strait.

A veritable 'fog of war' - added to the 25% increase in US tariffs on European cars - once again weighed down the main Old Continent stock markets. Milan closed in the red at -1.59%. The rest of Europe was also negative with Paris (-1.7%) and Frankfurt (-1.2%), while London was closed for the holiday. Eyes also focused on a new wave of quarterly accounts, as well as a series of macroeconomic data that will give indications on the health of economies on both sides of the Atlantic.

The major indices on Wall Street are generally biased to the downside at the start of a week in which the April US jobs data, due on Friday, is expected. Investors are again pricing in geopolitical risk after recent highs, in a week still dominated by quarterly earnings reports from the tech world, including those of Palantir (in the evening) and Amd (tomorrow).

As of 7:30 p.m. Italian time, the S&P 500 fell 0.4%, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 453 points (-0.9%) and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2%.

On the equities, the stock of Ebay rises after the video game retailer Gamestop Corp presented an offer to purchase the online marketplace for about $55.5 billion. GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen said the merger would be a way to create a strong competitor to Amazon. Norwegian Cruise Line's stock fell after the cruise company reported first-quarter earnings of 23 cents per share and $2.33 billion in revenue, against estimates of 14 cents and $2.36 billion.