EU stock exchanges in seesaw between proposals and US-Iran threats. Milan (-0.9%) pays the coupon effect

  (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Once again it was a highly volatile session for the European stock markets, suspended on news from the Middle East. The new threats of US President, Donald Trump, encouraged selling in the morning, but then in the afternoon the speculation raised by the Iranian media about a possible lifting of oil sanctions made investors breathe a sigh of relief. In addition, Al Arabiya reported that Tehran would be favourable to a long and multi-stage truce, to a gradual opening of Hormuz and also to accept a long period of freezing of its nuclear programme on condition of transferring highly enriched uranium to Russia. Then, however, in the afternoon, there was an icy shower: the American website Axios relaunched rumours that the White House had returned Tehran's proposal considering it 'insufficient'. All in all, the convulsive succession of news and rumours caused shocks in European stock markets, which nevertheless closed in positive territory, albeit below the day's highs. Frankfurt (DAX 40) boasted the best performance. Milan (FTSE MIB) closed lower, but the losses were only apparent and were attributable to the effect of the dividend payout which weighed on the main index by 1.5%.

Wall Street closed on a swing. The Dow Jones rose 0.32 per cent to 49,686.12 points, the Nasdaq lost 0.51 per cent to 26,090.73 points, and the S&P 500 gave up 0.07 per cent to 7,403.01 points. Last week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reached new all-time highs and the Dow Jones briefly exceeded 50,000. However, the major indices suffered a setback on Friday due to rising government bond yields worldwide. Finally, new inflation data released last week make a rate cut by the Federal Reserve unlikely in the near term. "Financial markets expect interest rates to remain high for longer, despite President Trump's calls for Kevin Warsh, the Fed's newly appointed chairman, to lower them," wrote Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. "But the macroeconomic environment no longer supports an expansionary monetary policy, much less a rate cut," he added.

Piazza Affari's dividend day, the day of the year on which the largest number of companies detach their coupons, has begun. In detail, there are 22 companies in the main basket that distributed annual or interim dividends for atotal value close to EUR 16 billion. The technical impact on the index is estimatedat 1.51%, a factor that could influence the performance of the list at the beginning of the week. Technology stocks, which rallied again last week, are still under observation, while Nvidia's quarterly earnings report due on Wednesday is expected. So "coupon effect" for A2a , Amplifon , Avio , Azimut, Bper Banca , Banca Monte Paschi Siena , Brunello Cucinelli , Buzzi , Diasorin , among other things ahead of Investors Day on 20 May, Eni , Finecobank , Generali , Intesa Sanpaolo , Inwit , Italgas , Lottomatica Group , Moncler , Nexi , Recordati Ord, Saipem , Unipol and Tenaris , with Bnp Paribas raising its target price from EUR21 to EUR28.5.

After several turns in the course of the day, energy prices started to rise again: the Wti for June is at USD 107 per barrel and the Brent for July is at USD 110, both up about one and a half points. Little movement for natural gas in Amsterdam, which settled at EUR 50 per megawatt-hour.

The spread between the BTp and Bund closed slightly lower. At the end of the session, the yield differential between the benchmark ten-year BTp and the German Bund of the same duration stood at 76 basis points, down from 77 at Friday's close. The yield on the benchmark ten-year BTp also fell fractionally, ending the session at 3.92% from 3.93% at the previous benchmark.