European financial markets began the week with cautious gains as investors awaited developments from tariff policy negotiations. Markets across the continent showed a generally positive trend, albeit with varying intensity.
Milan`s FTSE Mib index closed the session up 0.31% at 37,465 points. Frankfurt recorded a more modest increase of 0.13%. The best performance was seen on the Madrid Stock Exchange, which ended with a 0.75% gain, followed by Paris, up 0.50%. London (+0.02%) and Amsterdam (-0.02%) remained largely unchanged.
The spread between Italian ten-year BTPs and German Bunds remained stable at 111 basis points, unchanged from the open, with the yield on the Italian bond at 3.62%.
In the currency market, the Euro/Dollar exchange rate held steady at 1.139. Gold saw a slight increase of 0.29%, later accelerating to surpass $3,300 an ounce with a jump of over 1%. It was a negative day for oil, with Light Sweet Crude Oil down 1.96% at $61.78 a barrel. Natural gas on the Amsterdam market also declined, with May futures for methane falling 2% to 31.7 euros per Megawatt-hour.
On the Milan stock exchange (Piazza Affari), among the main listed companies, Monte dei Paschi gained 2.08%, followed by Unicredit (+1.71%). It was a difficult session for Generali (-1.13%) and Mediobanca (-0.80%). In other sectors, Interpump (+2.85%) and Saipem (+1.74%) stood out with positive performances, while Stm (-1.37%), Leonardo (-1.73%), and Nexi (-0.96%) showed weakness.
In the FTSE MidCap segment, Sesa (+7.30%), Banca Generali (+5.17%), Intercos (+3.01%), and Banca Ifis (+2.70%) shone. On the flip side, the most significant declines were recorded by Juventus (-3.37%), D`Amico (-2.75%), Newlat Food (-1.82%), and Tamburi (-1.44%).