EU stock exchanges in the red with inflation spectre, Milan -2%. Wall Street weighed down by tech drop

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - A backward slide for the FTSE MIB of Milan (the worst in Europe, where all indices close in the red) with the stock markets frightened by a return of inflation due to the Hormuz crisis. Piazza Affari thus brings its weekly balance to breakeven and abandoning immediately the threshold of 50,000 points reached on the eve of the event (first time since the dot-com bubble in March 2000). Making investors more tense, besides doubts about global growth, is also the political crisis in the UK, and the market's fears about a possible leftward turn of Labour, as witnessed by the rise in yields on UK government bonds (the famous 'Gilts'). A trend that is reflected in a cascade on the bonds of the rest of the Old Continent, with the multiplication of hypotheses that the Fed and the ECB may raise rates to stop the new flare-up in prices. The example of Italia, where the yield on 10-year BTPs has now exceeded 3.9% and US Treasuries have been at the top for a year. Not to mention the nothing emerged after the long-awaited Trump-Xi summit in China which registered tensions over Taiwan rather than solutions for the war in Iran.

Just a step away from an all-time high, Piazza Affari suddenly retreated in the last session and took its weekly balance into negative territory (-0.4% for the best of five sessions), as did the other European stock markets. Amidst the tech bubble linked to AI, geopolitical uncertainties, the stalemate in the US-Iran talks and the Strait of Hormuz crisis that continues, markets are now beginning to discount a scenario of the Fed and ECB raising rates to nip in the bud the inflationary spiral linked above all to energy prices. The worst of the week was thus the Paris Stock Exchange (-2%), followed by Frankfurt (-1.6%) and Madrid (-1.5%). -0.4% for London, however, grappling with the government crisis whose consequences are still difficult to predict. Taking a closer look at the individual securities in the Ftse Mib, DiaSorin (+11.5%), Saipem (+8.2%) and St. John's (+7.8%) recorded strong weekly gains. On the other hand, Nexi (-11.2%), Moncler (-8.8%) and Leonardo (-7.8%) lost share.

After the record highs of the past few days, indices on Wall Street moved sharply lower. The losses in technology stocks and the rise in yields on US Treasury bonds weighed heavily, after the conclusion of the summit between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, which left traders concerned about the lack of major political and trade progress. Specifically weighing on the Nasdaq-100 were losses by Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Micron Technology. Also declining were Nvidia Corp and Cerebras Systems, after up 60 per cent on the eve of its debut. "The sector has been extremely unsustainable in recent weeks and remains vulnerable to profit-taking, regardless of the news," wrote Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge. Bucking the trend was Microsoft Corp, after Bill Ackman said on X that Pershing Square had opened a position in the stock. Treasury bond yields rose, putting pressure on equities, with the 30-year rate surpassing 5.1 per cent, at its highest in almost a year. A series of reports released this week showed that inflation is regaining momentum, due to high oil prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

On the Milanese equities, Stmicroelectronics slipped after its eve rally. The stock, however, is up 135 per cent since the start of the year: analyst sentiment shows signs of cautious optimism, driven by the end of the inventory correction in the chip sector and the bet on artificial intelligence. In the wake of the sell-off on tech stocks in the US, gains were also seen on Prysmian . Sell-offs on banks with Bper Banca and Intesa Sanpaolo leading the declines. The Unipol's positive first-quarter results were not enough, with net profit at EUR 433m (+6%) and inflows at EUR 4.8bn (+7%). Leading the list Saipem and Diasorin, the oil companies are also holding up with Tenaris and Eni . It falls Stellantis : although the agreement with Dongfeng to produce new Peugeot and Jeep models in China is considered positive by analysts, the market is already looking beyond, at future prospects, which show signs of improvement but with results not yet consolidated, and at the industrial plan to be presented on 21 May. Outside of the main basket, Salvatore Ferragamo plummeted in the aftermath of the release of Q1 2026 sales numbers, despite being fairly in line with expectations.

On the energy front, crude oil prices remain pegged above 100 dollars a barrel, with Brent close to 108 dollars and Wti at 104 dollars, helped by the fact that, according to observers, flows through the Strait of Hormuz remain very low and signs of progress on a US-Iran deal are limited. Also on the rise was the natural gas traded in Amsterdam, targeting EUR 49 per megawatt hour. Gold fell, with the spot contract at $4,570 an ounce.