European stock markets finished the trading day with mixed performance. This was influenced by a negative showing on Wall Street following data that indicated a contraction in the US economy during the first quarter of 2025.
In Milan, the benchmark Ftse Mib index closed down by 0.71%, settling at 37,604 points. The main constituent stocks within the index were clearly divided between those that saw gains and those that registered losses.
Other major continental markets displayed varying trends in this final session before the break for the May 1st holiday. The Paris stock exchange rose by 0.50%, closing at 7,593 points. London posted a gain of 0.37%, reaching 8,494 points, and Frankfurt ended up by 0.32% at 22,496 points. Madrid bucked the trend, declining by 0.74% to finish at 13,267 points.
In the bond market, the yield spread between Italian BTPs and German Bunds widened, finishing at 112 basis points. This compares to 109.7 points at the open and the previous close. The yield on the Italian ten-year bond fell by 4.3 basis points to 3.56%, while the German equivalent recorded a sharper drop of 5.3 points, settling at 2.44%.
The single European currency weakened against the US dollar, depreciating by 0.51%. Gold also experienced a negative trend, closing with a 0.47% decrease. Notably, oil (Light Sweet Crude Oil) suffered a significant fall of 1.83%, sliding to $59.31 per barrel.
Natural gas on the Amsterdam TTF platform recorded a slight increase, with May futures contracts gaining 0.23% to reach 32.03 euros per megawatt-hour.
Among the positive highlights on the Milan stock list were Campari, with a jump of 3.96%. It was followed by Recordati (+3.39%), A2A (+1.91%), Leonardo (+1.33%), and Poste Italiane (+1.31%). Terna also performed well (+1.06%), while Eni (+0.11%), Enel (+0.05%), and Generali (+0.09%) showed only minor variations.
On the downside, Unicredit led the declines with a loss of 2.82%. It was followed by Banca MPS (-2.77%), Mediobanca (-2.10%), and Stellantis (-1.94%). Banco BPM (-1.86%) and STMicroelectronics (-1.63%) were also in difficulty; the latter mirrored the trend in the European technology sector. Banca Generali saw a limited decrease of -0.19%.
In the FTSE MidCap segment, Cembre (+2.95%), Comer Industries (+2.77%), CIR (+2.46%), and El.En (+2.32%) delivered strong performances. Conversely, Moltiply Group concluded with a 3.33% drop, while Ferretti showed a decrease of 2.85%. Anima Holding (-2.05%) and WIIT (-1.79%) also had negative results.
Among smaller capitalization stocks, Softlab (+8.07%) and Zucchi (+3.96%) surged, while Eph (-8.73%) and Basicnet (-5.97%) suffered notably.
Regarding listed football clubs, Juventus experienced a positive day, gaining 2.25%, while Lazio lost 0.71%.