Stock exchanges, Milan (+6.3%) rises in May amid US-China truce and Merz effect

Wall Street closed mixed. The Dow Jones rose 0.13 per cent to 42,270.07 points, the Nasdaq lost 0.32 per cent to 19,113.77 points and the S&P 500 gave up 0.01 per cent to 5911.69 points. All this after Donald Trump's new accusations against China. The US president said that Beijing "completely violated our trade agreement", which had helped ease tensions between the two countries over the past two weeks. The spotlight was on inflation data: consumer prices rose 0.2 per cent in April and PCE inflation came in at +0.1 per cent month-on-month and year-on-year at +2.1 per cent, below estimates. The annual 'core' figure stood at 2.5%. The market, therefore, is wondering whether these continued small steps might be enough to push the Fed closer to the first rate cut in 2025.

In terms of stocks, energy companies are up well at Piazza Affari, with Italgas (+2.6%) in the front row: Snam (+0.7%), a shareholder of the group led by Paolo Gallo with 13.5% of the capital, finalised an Accelerated Bookbuild on part of the rights as part of the Italgas capital increase aimed at the integration of 2i Rete Gas. A2a and Hera also did well (both +1.3%). Banks were still under observation, with Mediobanca up 0.05% ahead of the shareholders' meeting of 16 June on the voluntary total takeover bid for Banca Generali (-0.4%). Still on the banking front, Bper closed at +0.9% after the board of directors gave the go-ahead for the capital increase to service the takeover bid for Popolare di Sondrio (+0.7%) and the clarifications - requested by the Valtellina-based bank - on certain requirements imposed by the ECB. Bought also on Poste Italiane (+0.5%) which finalised the purchase of an additional 15% stake in Tim (-1.7%) from French Vivendi, thus becoming the main shareholder of the telecommunications group with 24.8% of the capital. In the tail St (-1.9%) after the eve's rises in the wake of Nvidia's accounts.

The BTp-Bund spread closed slightly higher, rising one point to 98 basis points from 97 basis points on the eve of closing, when it had fallen to the lowest since July 2021. The 10-year BTp yield stood at 3.48%, unchanged from the eve's close, marking the lowest since late February.

On the fourth and final day of the placement, reserved for institutional investors, the orders for the new BTp Italia amounted to EUR 2.257 billion. The figure is in addition to the EUR 6.52 billion raised through retail demand closed on 29 May, for an overall total of the issue of EUR 8.77 billion. In the previous placement in March 2023, the issue reached a total of EUR 9.916 billion. The bond has a maturity set for 04/06/2032, a duration of seven years, offers a guaranteed yield of 1.85% and an extra final premium of 1% for those who hold it to maturity.

On the currency side, the euro weakened slightly against the dollar and traded at 1.135 (from 1.136 on the eve). The euro/yen exchange rate was little moved at 163.74, while the dollar/yen cross rose to 144.6. Oil traded lower with Wti at $60.8 a barrel (-0.15 percent) and Brent crude trading at $64 (-0.2 percent). Gas fell to EUR 34 per megawatt hour (-2.4%). Gold also fell to below $3,300 an ounce (-0.9%), and Bitcoin to $105,580..