Luxury rebounds on geopolitical brightenings, Moncler rises in Milan

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Luxury stocks rose in Piazza Affari and the rest of Europe, benefiting from the calmer outlook for the sector that has emerged in recent days. In Milan, Moncler , Brunello Cucinelli and Salvatore Ferragamo . In Paris, the Lvmh , Kering and Hermes. Switzerland's Cie Financiere Richemont Sa also put in a good rise. On the eve of the event, however, the shares had fared poorly and since the beginning of the year the balance sheet of the major groups in the sector has been quite disappointing.

To understand today's rebound it is necessary to rewind the tape and start from the causes that have shaken the luxury and fashion sector in recent months: the war in Iran, which broke out in an already tense geopolitical context, and fears that the upper-middle class, the one that constitutes the client base of the large groups, will have to reckon with a wave of layoffs caused by AI. Well, on the international front in recent days there has been a widespread belief that a US-Iran agreement will soon be announced that will put an end to the conflict in the Middle East and above all facilitate the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. After all, it was the president, Donald Trump, who announced a possible imminent agreement. A resumption of flights and international tourism is inextricably linked to shopping for 'beautiful and well-made' items.

On the subject of AI and its impact on the world of work, reassurances have come just in the last few hours from Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI (the company that controls Chatgpt), in response to Pope Leo XIV's encyclical, Magnica Humanitas, presented two days ago. The entrepreneur ruled out the prospect of"an employment apocalypse", stating that so far the impact on labour has been manageable. Lastly, the Ferrari case also supports the sector: the negative reaction to the new electric car conceived by Jony Ive, former Apple designer, proves that taste and style, in which Italian and French companies have primacy, are difficult to replicate.