Stock exchanges, Wall Street: DJ flat, S&P and Nasdaq up. Trump reignites tariffs war with EU

On Wall Street, a solid quarterly earnings season, coupled with hopes of an easing of tensions in the Middle East, pushed up equities in recent weeks. The S&P 500 closed above the 7,200-point mark yesterday for the first time ever; record highs also for the Nasdaq. Both indices recorded their best month since 2020. The Dow Jones, for its part, saw its best monthly performance since November 2024.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange closed modestly higher, buoyed by gains in a small group of technology stocks and Wall Street's performance, while the strengthening yen contributed to a rebound in government bond yields. Japanese authorities intervened in the currency market to curb the yen's rapid decline against the dollar, the first such intervention in nearly two years.

On a day marked by the closure of most stock exchanges, the main Nikkei index closed the day up 0.38% to 59,513.12 points. The broader Topix index recovered its initial losses, closing up 0.04% at 3,728.73 points.

The Japanese authorities have intervened in the currency market to curb the yen's rapid fall in the exchange rate against the dollar: the first such intervention in almost two years. This was reported by government sources to the Kyodo news agency, after a series of warnings by Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama herself, about the possibility of "decisive action" to halt the currency's depreciation - which on Thursday had touched 160.70 yen against the greenback, the lowest in 22 months. After the move, the yen stood at 155 against the dollar, also appreciating against the euro to 184.40.

Stable opening for the spread between the BTp and Bund. At the start of the day, the yield spread between the benchmark ten-year BTp and the German ten-year peer maturity stood at 82 points, the same level as yesterday's closing. Also flat was the yield on the Italian ten-year benchmark maturity, which remained at 3.85%, the same as yesterday's closing.