Wall Street withstands shock of war, Palantir leads tech rises. Milan (-2%) burns 17 bn

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The war in the Middle East also engulfed the stock markets, which closed in deep red and saw the prices of gas, oil and the dollar soar. The Ftse Mib was no exception, closing at -2% and burning over 17 billion capitalisation in a single session. For analysts, the fear of a new energy shock - the third in a few years after the Covid (in 2020) and the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022) - could in fact translate into a new inflationary flare-up, throwing to the winds the forecasts made so far of a rate cut by the Fed and the ECB (which could even raise them). But the 'Black Monday' of stock markets has to reckon above all with the risk of a blockage of energy supply chains and, consequently, the resilience of the global economy, considering the huge flows of crude oil and LNG passing by ship through the Strait of Hormuz. So much so that some observers already speculate the barrel will reach 100 dollars within a short time if the conflict continues, despite the Opec+ production increase. At the same time, the disruption of air transport (the largest recorded globally with 19,000 flights delayed and over 2,600 cancelled) is weighing heavily on airlines in the sector: among others, they are down sharply Deutsche Lufthansa and Air France-Klm have suspended routes to the Middle East.

Wall Street closes mixed. The Dow Jones lost 0.15 per cent to DJIA 48,904.78 points, the Nasdaq rose 0.36 per cent to 22,748.86 points and the S&P 500 gained 0.04 per cent 6,881.59 points. Wall Street indices were close to parity, recovering from the first half, which was affected bythe attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, which caused oil prices to soar, adding Middle East instability to the list of growing concerns. Rising were many tech stocks, looking to rebound after recent declines due to concerns over artificial intelligence: up were Nvidia Corp, Microsoft Corp and Oracle, while Palantir Technologies is the best stock on the S&P 500. Instead, energy and defence stocks are benefiting from the Middle East conflict: Northrop Grumman , Rtx Corp , Lockheed Martin, Exxon Mobil and Chevron.

Fears for the resilience of the global economy, in light of the blockage of energy supply chains, hit industrial stocks and banks, while defence and oil stocks gained ground against the trend, driven by the rally in crude oil prices. Among the main Milanese stocks, Stellantis , Unipol , Banca Pop Er , Mediobanca , Brunello Cucinelli and Intesa Sanpaolo . In the Ftse Mib only Leonardo - Finmeccanica , Eni , Fincantieri , Tenaris and Italgas .

The US and Israeli attack on Iran and the ensuing decision by oil tankers to avoid passage through the Strait of Hormuz give wings to the oil price despite the higher-than-expected April production increase announced by Opec+ countries. The April Wti future jumped 7% to near $72, while the May Brent contact climbed more than 8% towards $80. At the close on Friday, the benchmark contracts were trading at $66.6 and $72.5 respectively. About one fifth of the oil consumed globally passes through the Strait of Hormuz, 38% of which is destined for the Chinese market (3% for Europe), as well as liquefied gas from Qatar (one fifth of global exports). The crisis in the Middle East thus also gives wings to natural gas: on the Ttf platform in Amsterdam the reference future flies 50% to EUR 46 per megawatt hour. In particular, the commodity accelerated after the news of the stoppage of the production of Qatari LNG following damage caused by Iranian drones to a plant.

The chaos in the Middle East also triggers a rally in precious metals. On the wave of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, gold jumped, and silver, platinum and palladium also rose. Among the quintessential safe-haven assets, precious metals and gold are "perhaps thebest barometer for reflecting global uncertainty," said independent analyst Ross Norman, quoted by Radiocor. "We should expect the yellow metal to be revalued upward by reaching new records as we enter a new era of geopolitical uncertainty. This, despite the rebound of the dollar which, according to traders, makes it more expensive to buy precious metals and limits purchases. The euro retreats to 1.17. Meanwhile, after the weekend's rollercoaster, cryptocurrencies attempt a timid rebound: the bitcoin rises above $66,000, after having retreated below $64,000 last Saturday.