The trading session opened with falling indices at Piazza Affari, as expected, following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement on Saturday of a 30% tariff on goods imported from the EU, effective August 1. Broad-based selling hit most stocks on the board, with the hardest blows dealt to cyclical shares of companies most exposed to exports.
According to one trader, these moves represent further profit-taking by investors who, amid significant uncertainty over global trade policies, prefer to lock in their gains at this stage.
Around 9:40 a.m., the Ftse Mib index was down 0.70%.
Leading the losses today was the luxury sector, with BRUNELLO CUCINELLI, SALVATORE FERRAGAMO, and MONCLER all dropping by over 2%.
The automotive sector was also under pressure, with STELLANTIS down 0.9%--already having taken a heavy hit last Friday--and IVECO slipping 0.4%, despite Deutsche Bank raising its target price for the stock to 16 euros from 13.
Banks continued to struggle, hurt by fears that Trump's policies could impact the global economy. The sector index fell 0.9%. Among the heavyweights, UNICREDIT lost 1.3%. Last Saturday, the administrative court (Tar) annulled some of the conditions set by the government for approving UniCredit's bid for BANCO BPM (+1.1%), but upheld Rome's requirement for the bank to exit the Russian market by January 2026. Also supporting Banco BPM's stock was the announcement that Credit Agricole has asked the ECB for permission to increase its stake in the bank to over 20%. According to broker Equita, "Credit Agricole's request, while potentially driven by technical reasons, opens the door to various scenarios."
Another major lender, INTESA, was down 0.7%. MPS (-1.6%) and MEDIOBANCA (-0.8%) also saw declines on the day MPS launched a voluntary public exchange offer for the Piazzetta Cuccia institution.
(Reporting by Giancarlo Navach, editing by Stefano Bernabei)
