EU stock exchanges at window in Fed week. Wall Street closes positive. Still super gold

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - European stocks at the window in the first session of a week in which investors expect the Federal Reserve to announce a pause in the cycle of monetary policy easing and the quarterly reports of US biggies to give new support to prices. On the calendar are the results of Wall Street's 'Magnificent 7', namely Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. Wall Street closed positive, however. The Dow Jones rose 0.64 per cent to 49,412.40 points, the Nasdaq advanced 0.43 per cent to 23,601.36 points and the S&P 500 gained 0.50 per cent to 6,950.30 points. The euro finally traded at $1.1885 after Wall Street closed. The single currency rose 0.11% against the greenback.

On the Milanese stock, the purchases reward Banco Bpm : some directors have started a reflection on the possible competitive implications of the participation of Credit Agricole, wrote La Stampa over the weekend, adding that the Agcm is also thinking about the risks of banking concentration to understand what effects a strengthening of the French could have close to 30 per cent. Also doing well was the Banca Popolare di Sondrio , after Palazzo Chigi decided not to exercise its golden power on the acquisition by Bper. On the upside Telecom Italia which, according to Il Sole 24 Ore, is reportedly in talks with network operator Open Fiber to activate 200,000 new fibre optic lines. On the opposite front, Diasorin lost more than three points as the market studies the appointment of Alberto Donati as the pharma group's new CFO. Also weak were Tenaris and Stellantis , despite rumours that India may cut tariffs on cars imported from the European Union to 40 per cent, from levels now as high as 110 per cent, as part of a free trade agreement that could come as early as Tuesday. Profit-taking is holding back the defence sector, with Leonardo - Finmeccanica and Fincantieri among the worst performers. Beyond today's performance, however, the sector should continue to benefit this year from the European push towards rearmament, independent of the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine or escalation in other regions, such as South America and Greenland.

Outside of the main basket, the Ferretti plunged ahead of the tug-of-war between the Chinese shareholders and Czech entrepreneur Karel Komarek's Kkcg over the renewal of the board of directors.

The market's rush towards safe haven assets continues: the gold thus crosses the $5,100 per ounce mark in the spot contract for the first time, while spot silver crosses the $100 mark. Further driving the precious metal prices are the tensions on the geopolitical and trade front. Over the weekend, Trump threatened Canada with 100% tariffs on all its exports to the US if Ottawa enters into a trade agreement with China. The yellow metal climbed 2.1% to $5,092 in the spot contract, while futures settled at $5,075 (+1.95%). Silver gained 12.8% to $114.3.

On bonds, finally, the spread between the BTp and Bund closed lower. At the end of trading, the yield differential between the benchmark ten-year BTp and the equal German maturity stood at 59 basis points, down from 60 points on the eve of the meeting, remaining close to the lowest since 2009. The yield on the ten-year BTp also fell, to 3.46%, down from 3.50% on Friday's benchmark.