Stocks fall on doubts over artificial intelligence, oil rises above $110

European stock markets opened weak on Tuesday, following the decline of Asian markets, and uncertainty over the sustainability of investments linked to artificial intelligence returned to the markets. The Stoxx 600 index lost 0.7%, weighed down in particular by the technology sector, down 2.1%.

In Milan, at midday the Ftse Mib was losing 0.96%, with stocks linked to technology components among the worst performers of the session: Prysmian lost 4.06%, Technoprobe 3.28% and Stm 3.17%. The movement confirms that doubts over the sustainability of the rush of investments in artificial intelligence, which had already emerged in recent days on Asian markets, are also spreading to European markets.

The oil market is moving in the opposite direction, however. North Sea Brent rose to $111 a barrel, up 1.5% and increasingly close to its highs of the last eleven months, while Texan Wti stood at $100. According to operators cited by the financial press, traders are pricing in a geopolitical risk premium linked to Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure and on ships transiting the Gulf.

The rise in crude oil and gas prices supported the energy sector, bucking the trend in the rest of the Milan listing: Enel gained 1.3% and Eni 1.1%, two stocks that directly benefit from the increase in energy commodity prices on a day when the rest of the market is struggling.

The day therefore outlines two parallel and partly opposite movements: on one hand, caution over technology stocks, which weighs on the general European indices; on the other, geopolitical tension in the Gulf, which pushes energy prices upward and, as a result, the stocks in the sector in Milan.