Second Half of the Year Opens with European Markets Sliding

(Alliance News) - On Tuesday, the first session of the second half of the year closed with European markets in negative territory--with the exception of London--despite emerging signs of a possible resolution to the trade tariff war imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The EU appears willing to accept a universal 10% tariff, potentially even before July 9.

In Italy, the manufacturing sector saw further deterioration in June, with the Hamburg Commercial Bank PMI index falling to 48.4 from May's 49.2, marking the sharpest decline in the past three months.

Accordingly, the FTSE Mib dropped 0.6% to 39,561.30 points, the Mid-Cap fell 0.6% to 53,958.16, the Small-Cap lost 0.3% to 31,800.80, and the Italy Growth index ended slightly lower at 8,194.04 points.

Paris's CAC 40 posted a fractional loss, Frankfurt's DAX 40 fell 0.8%, while London's FTSE 100 bucked the trend, ending Tuesday's session up 0.3%.

Axel Rudolph, Senior Technical Analyst at IG, commented: "The Eurozone inflation rate hit the ECB's 2% target as expected, and German unemployment remained stable. These factors supported the euro, which reached its highest level since August 2021. U.S. job openings rose more than forecast, while the economic optimism index unexpectedly dropped, putting pressure on some U.S. stock indices such as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 ahead of Thursday's early release of non-farm payroll data."

"The Dow Jones Industrial Index, on the other hand, performed better, closing in positive territory, aided by slightly better-than-expected manufacturing PMI data."

On the Milan Stock Exchange, Brunello Cucinelli shares, up 3.1% to EUR105.95, were among the top performers after Jefferies raised its target price to EUR107 from EUR100, maintaining a 'hold' rating.

Campari led the pack, closing up 3.4% at EUR5.906 after continuing its buyback plan and purchasing nearly EUR2 million worth of shares.

The utilities sector also performed well, with Enel and A2A rising by 2.3% and 1.6%, respectively.

Leonardo sat at the bottom of the list with a 5.0% drop to EUR45.39 per share after announcing on Tuesday the acquisition of nearly 25% of Finnish SSH Communications Security Corporation for EUR20 million, thereby strengthening its international cyber portfolio.

Intesa Sanpaolo, down 1%, reported on Monday that between June 23 and 27, it repurchased 36.5 million of its own shares at an average price of EUR4.7990, for a total outlay of EUR175.3 million.

Banca Mediolanum, down 2.1%, and Mediolanum Vita completed the sale of their entire stake in Mediobanca--29.1 million ordinary shares, representing about 3.5% of the capital. Mediobanca's stock, which also reported the sale by Aurelia of call and put options on its ordinary shares, fell 4.2% to EUR18.905 per share.

Amplifon, which announced EUR50 million in financing from Banca Popolare di Sondrio (itself down 3.1%), slipped 0.7%. The company reported on Monday that it repurchased 1.2 million of its own ordinary shares between June 23 and 30.

The shares were bought at an average unit price of EUR19.978, for a total outlay of approximately EUR23.6 million. Following these purchases, the company now holds 4.6 million treasury shares, equal to 2.0% of its share capital.

On the Mid-Cap list, Italmobiliare gained 5.2% to EUR27.35 per share, topping the chart.

Webuild rose 1.0% after signing a contract to construct Section T2 of Rome Metro Line C, valued at approximately EUR2.00 billion.

Juventus Football Club lost 2.1%. The company reported that majority shareholder Exor NV made a second payment towards a future capital increase, totaling EUR15.0 million, "under the same terms, conditions, and purpose as the payment made on March 28," according to the statement.

MAIRE announced that its NextChem plant in Mexico will have a capacity of 2.1 million tonnes from 2029, with the stock falling 0.2% to EUR11.19 per share.

Fincantieri posted the day's worst performance, down 5.8%. The company said yesterday it is ready to seize at least EUR20 billion in commercial opportunities in the defense sector, thanks to unprecedented growth in military investments in Europe and abroad.

Among small caps, Triboo led with a gain of about 48% to EUR0.466 per share. On Monday, the company announced that its subsidiary Triboo Digitale finalized the closing of the sale of an 80% stake in ESITE to Alsendo Holdings.

The sale price was EUR4.4 million, generating a capital gain of EUR1.5 million.

Safilo Group and Victoria Beckham announced the signing of a ten-year global licensing agreement for the creation, production, and distribution of Victoria Beckham-branded eyewear collections. Safilo shares rose 2.6% to EUR0.926 per share.

Met.Extra Group closed in the red with a 9.7% drop.

Bestbe Holding's board, down 4.3%, approved the separate and consolidated financial statements as of December 31, closing with a consolidated net loss of EUR7.2 million, an improvement over the EUR10.5 million loss in 2023.

Elica announced on Tuesday the acquisition of the remaining 0.56% stake in Elica Home Appliances Co - Putian - from Japan's Fuji Industrial Co, thereby gaining full control of its Chinese subsidiary.

The transaction, valued at around EUR2.0 million, did not help the stock recover, and it ended the day down 0.4%.

On the Italy Growth index, Cloudia Research soared 11% to EUR1.70 per share.

Allcore--untraded--announced it had finalized the sale of a minority stake in Re Business, with a nominal value of EUR61,500.60, representing about 10%, to Ad Maiora.

Cyberoo, up 1.0%, reported the purchase of 15,200 of its own ordinary shares between June 23 and 27. The shares were bought at an average unit price of EUR1.495, for a total outlay of EUR22,723.12.

In New York, the Dow rose 0.6%, while the Nasdaq closed down 0.8%, as did the S&P 500, which lost 0.3%.

In currencies, the euro traded at USD1.1774, up from USD1.1737 at Monday's close, while the pound was at USD1.3725, up from USD1.3701 on Monday.

In commodities, Brent crude traded at USD67.21, down from USD67.58 a barrel at the previous close, while gold was valued at USD3,354.00 an ounce, up from USD3,287.26 at the previous close.

Looking ahead to Wednesday's economic calendar, Spanish unemployment data is due at 0900 CEST.

At 1000 CEST, Italian unemployment data will be released.

ECB's De Guindos is scheduled to speak at 1000 CEST, while Eurozone unemployment figures are expected at 1100 CEST.

Focus will then shift to U.S. mortgage data from 1300 CEST, followed by the national vehicle sales report at 1600 CEST.

ECB President Christine Lagarde is set to speak at 1615 CEST.

Reports on U.S. oil, fuel, and crude production are expected from 1630 CEST.

No significant announcements are expected from the Milan Stock Exchange.

By Michele Cirulli, Alliance News Reporter

Comments and questions to [e-mail]

Copyright 2025 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.