Stock Market: Europe Accelerates After Ifo Germany

The main European stock markets are gaining pace after the Ifo indices on business confidence in Germany were better than expected. In particular, Frankfurt is accelerating, gaining 2.15%, followed by Milan (+1.6%), Paris and Madrid (both +1.4%) and London (+0.4%). US futures are positive after the 12-hour truce between Israel and Iran announced by US President Donald Trump and the opening of the vice president of the Fed Michelle Bowman to a rate cut in July. Coming up in the afternoon are US house prices, the Richmond Fed indices and the speeches by the presidents of the ECB Christine Lagarde and the Fed Jerome Powell.

Crude oil (Wti -3.5% to 66.1 dollars per barrel), gas (-10.09% to 36.41 euros per MWh), gold (-1.2% to 3,327.36 dollars per ounce) and the dollar fell sharply to 0.86 euros and above 0.73 pounds. The spread between German 10-year BTPs and Bunds stands at 94.3 points, with the Italian annual yield falling by 1.6 points to 3.46% and the German one rising by 1.5 points to 2.52%. Stellantis (+3.25%) stood out, on the back of the long wave of the start of Antonio Filosa's management, as did Volkswagen (+3%) and Renault (+2.75%). Semiconductor producers Infineon (+2.54%), Asml (+2.2%) and Stm (+1.9%) are running along with luxury stocks from Puma (+3.85%), Fichemont (+2.58%) and Kering (+2.2%) to Cucinelli (+1.6%) and Moncler (+1.3%). Oil companies Bp (-4.86%), TotalEnergies (-3.45%), Shell (-3.25%) and Eni (-3.2%) are weak. Among banks, Mps (+5.61%) stands out, having apparently received initial approval from the ECB's supervisory board for the takeover bid on Mediobanca (+3.97%). Unicredit (+3.4%), Banco Bpm (+2.82%), Bper (+2.54%), Bnp (+2.5%), Popolare Sondrio (+2.27%) and Intesa (+2.1%) are also in the spotlight. Commerzbank (+1.8%) and Credit Agricole (+1%) are more cautious.

Natural gas continues to decline sharply on the Amsterdam TTF market. Futures contracts for the month of July are down 10.36% to 36.33 euros at the opening levels. The truce between Israel and Iran announced by US President Donald Trump is removing the risk of Tehran closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Hong Kong Stock Exchange closed with solid gains fueled by US President Donald Trump's announcement of a truce between Iran and Israel: the Hang Seng Index rose 2.06% to 24,177.07 points.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange ended the session higher, driven by the optimism of investors who are trying to clarify the situation after the announcement by US President Donald Trump that a temporary ceasefire agreement had been reached between Israel and Iran. The benchmark Nikkei index rose 1.14% to 38,790.56, with a gain of 436 points. On the currency market, the yen advanced slightly against the dollar, to 145.10, and recovered against the euro to 168.50.

Chinese stock markets closed the session positively, close to intraday highs, driven by the Israel-Iran truce: the Shanghai Composite index rose by 1.15% to 3,420.57 points, while the Shenzhen index jumped by 1.79% to 2,023.32 points.

The spread between the 10-year BTP and German Bund opened at 93.21 points, compared to the 97.4 recorded at the close the day before. The Italian annual yield fell 4 points to 3.44% and the German one rose 0.5 points to 2.5%.

The price of oil continues to fall, pushed down by the prospect of a truce between Israel and Iran. The August WTI contract falls by 4.15% to 65.67 dollars. Brent follows a similar trend, falling by 4.03% to 68.6 dollars.

Gold prices are falling on Asian markets after the easing of tensions between Israel and Iran and the prospect of a truce. The spot price is down 1.36% to $3,322 an ounce. The August contract is down 1.61% to $3,340.