European stock markets stable, US retail sales slow down

The main European stock markets maintain their positions with the US indices little moved (Dow Jones +0.01% and Nasdaq +0.1%). London and Paris unchanged, Milan and Madrid rose by 0.1%, while Frankfurt did better (+0.6%). US retail sales surprisingly slowed down in July (-0.6% versus +0.1% expected). However, the 0.4% growth in Eurozone GDP went almost unnoticed.

The BTP-Bund spread rises to 76.5 points with the Italian annual yield rising by 4.4 points to 3.94%, the German one by 4.3 points to 3.17% and the French one by 5.1 points to 3.99%. The euro and the pound strengthen, trading at 1.16 and 1.35 dollars respectively, while crude oil fluctuates around parity (WTI -0.12% to 81.15 dollars per barrel), unlike gas which rises by 0.61% to 60.77 euros per MWh.

Profit-taking continues on semiconductor producers Soitec (-1.05%), ASM (-1.1%) and STM (-0.75%). Oil companies Repsol (+0.68%), Shell (+0.34%), Eni (+0.3%), TotalEnergies (+0.21%) and BP (+0.02%) recorded a slight increase, while the situation for luxury remains more complicated. Pandora (-2.77%), Richemont (-1.56%), Ferragamo (-1.44%) and Burberry (-1.28%) are falling, while Cucinelli (-0.42%) and Moncler (+0.12%) are more cautious. The banks are at two speeds, with increases for Intesa (+0.57%), Banco Bpm (+0.5%), Mediobanca and Montepaschi (+0.57% both) unlike Bper (-0.05%) and Unicredit (-0.18%). In the automotive sector, BMW (+1.3%), Ferrari (+1.15%) and Stellantis (+1%) rose.