Piazza Affari reverses course: from morning gains to widespread losses

Wednesday’s session, October 7, changes sign compared to how it had opened. After the gains described in the morning edition, with Milan leading European markets, the session gradually reversed: the Ftse Mib loses 0.5% and falls below 51,000 points, according to data reported by MilanoFinanza and Il Messaggero.

Weighing on sentiment above all is the energy sector. Brent gains 0.6%, reaching around 101.20 dollars a barrel, after Iran intensified attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz in recent days. The rise in crude oil prices comes alongside a strengthening of the dollar, with the US currency index climbing to 101.3, a level not seen since April 2025. On the American bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 5.31%, a sign of investors returning to caution toward assets considered safer amid geopolitical tension.

The change in mood is reflected with particular intensity in banking stocks, among the hardest hit in today’s Borsa Italiana reading. UniCredit posts a decline of 4.52%, the sharpest among the major institutions. It is followed by Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, down 3.89%, Bper Banca at 3.61% and Banca Mediolanum at 3.56%. More contained, but still significant, is the decline of Banco BPM, at 2.49%, and Poste Italiane, at 2.90%. Outside the financial sector, selling also hits Prysmian, which loses 4.75%, and Technoprobe, down 6.03%.

The picture that emerges in the afternoon is therefore the opposite of the one with which the session had opened. The shift toward oil and the dollar as safe-haven assets, combined with the rise in yields on US government bonds, pushed investors to liquidate positions in sectors most sensitive to risk, starting with banks. The two sources documenting the opening macro data — MilanoFinanza and Il Messaggero — agree on the market’s direction; the data on individual stocks, recorded by Borsa Italiana, confirm that the banking decline was one of the main drivers of the negative day.

It remains to be seen whether the tension in the Strait of Hormuz, the origin of the surge in crude oil, will translate into a prolonged phase of weakness for European markets or whether it will fade in the coming sessions. At the moment, the available figures describe a Wednesday session closed in negative territory, with the Ftse Mib below 51,000 points and a banking sector that lost ground by more than three percentage points for several institutions.