Stock Markets Slow, Gold Hits New Record Highs
European stock markets are not far from the highs that preceded the correction in early August, with Milan and Frankfurt losing 0.3% and Madrid 0.2%, while Paris is up 0.2% and London is closed for the holidays.
Wall Street futures also showed little change, awaiting Nvidia’s quarterly report on Wednesday, while tensions in the Middle East, with the Israeli attack in Lebanon and Hezbollah’s response, pushed oil prices higher, with Brent crude and WTI futures up more than 1% to $79.8 and $75.6 per barrel respectively. Gold reached new highs, at $2,524 an ounce (+0.5%), following the Fed’s monetary change, weakening the dollar, which moved slightly at 1.118 against the euro, and causing Treasury yields to fall, down two basis points to 3.78%. Instead, the Italian BTP bond yield rose two basis points to 3.58%, while the spread with the Bund was little changed. In Piazza Affari, declines were led by Amplifon (-0.8%), STM (-0.8%) and Interpump (-0.7%), while banks are also weak due to the possibility of lower interest rates, with Mediobanca and Banco Bpm (-. -0.7%) leading sales. Tim (+2.1%) bucked the trend due to rumors of interest from potential investors and Nexi (+0.7%) for a Vivendi stake.
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