The Milan Stock Exchange opened in negative territory, with profit-taking hitting nearly every sector as investors adopted a risk-off approach.
Yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced an agreement on tariffs with China, but the deal still awaits final approval from the Chinese president and, crucially, lacks clear details. Amid this uncertainty, investors are shifting their focus to safer assets.
Market sentiment is also weighed down by renewed tensions in the Middle East, which sent Brent crude oil prices soaring by 4% yesterday, reaching their highest levels in over two months.
On the macroeconomic front, this afternoon will see the release of weekly U.S. jobless claims, estimated at 240,000.
Around 9:40 AM, the FTSE MIB index was down 0.82% at session lows, once again falling below the psychological threshold of 40,000 points.
Cyclical stocks were among the hardest hit, with luxury names like Ferragamo down 3.4% and Moncler falling 2.1%. Automakers also struggled, with Stellantis off 2% and Ferrari dropping 2.3%.
STM also came under pressure, losing 2% amid expectations of a negative start for the Nasdaq later today.
Technical selling hit Maire (-3%) at EUR10.93 after a 1.5% stake was placed via an accelerated bookbuilding (ABB) at EUR10.25 per share, a 9% discount to yesterday's close. According to Equita, "the choice of ABB is reasonably linked to the stock's liquidity and the size of the placement."
Banks were also sold off, with major names UniCredit and Intesa both slipping 0.5%.
The oil sector bucked the trend following the surge in crude prices: Eni gained 1.6%, while Saipem rose by 0.2%.
Leonardo experienced a volatile session, once again coming under pressure and losing 1.3% as investors took profits.
(Reporting by Giancarlo Navach, editing by Stefano Bernabei)
