EU stock exchanges take a breather after record highs, end 2025 weak and tight. More gains on silver

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - A sluggish close to 2025 for the few European stocks that opened in mid-market before the New Year's holiday. Portfolio adjustments and profit-taking bent the indices in a rarefied trading environment at the end of a year that closed everywhere with double-digit gains. While Wall Street, which opened steady, was weak, Paris fell 0.23%, London 0.09% and Madrid 0.25%, while Amsterdam ended the day unchanged. Milan and Frankfurt closed down. Meanwhile, investors are looking to the verbals of the latest Federal Reserve meeting for indications of the US central bank's next monetary policy moves. The minutes of the 9-10 December meeting revealed a divided Fed: while the Federal Open Market Committee approved a 25 basis point rate cut, many bankers at the meeting were also willing to support the decision to keep rates unchanged. For most of the committee members, however, further cuts are desirable if inflation falls as expected.

Wall Street travelled weak in the final session of the year as data on unemployment claims fell more than analysts had expected. Claims dropped by 16,000 to 199,000, showing a still resilient labour market despite the many layoffs already underway or announced by various companies. The indices, despite the shocks, linked to the tariffs announced by Trump in April, closed the year with double-digit gains: +17% for the S&P, +14% for the Dow Jones and Nasdaq which brought home +21%, thanks to investments in Ai.

On the stock front Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is up after media reports that Nvidia has asked the semiconductor company to increase production of H200 chips in response to Chinese orders exceeding two million units by 2026. Also up wereNike shares after CEO Elliott Hill bought shares in the sportswear manufacturer for about $1 million.

Among the main stocks, luxury goods did well in Paris, with Lvmh up 0.89%, while banks were weak(Societé Generale -0.98%). In London, the mining sector benefited: Fresnillo lost 2.29%. On the currency market, the euro/dollar settled at 1.1750 from 1.1762 at the eve's close. In Paris, the spotlight was on pharma: Sanofi (-0.3%) hit the brakes as Baader analysts cut their estimates, off the main list Abivax (+3.79%) continued to rally and is on track to close a golden year. Since the start of 2025, the biotechnology company's share price has risen more than 1,650%, driven by positive results in the Phase 3 trial of the drug Obefazimod - its main product in development - for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and interest from US giant Eli Lilly.

Euro remains above 1.17. On the commodities front, the oil fell. Silver plummeted by five per cent, while gold fell slightly. In general, the precious metals have had an exceptional year, with gold and silver both set to record the best annual jump since 1979.