Positive stock markets, the Ftse Mib remains above 40 thousand points

European stock markets are taking a breather after yesterday's run, following the truce between the United States and China in the trade war. The Ftse Mib index was up 1.40% yesterday, and by as much as 17 percentage points in the last 30 days. Today the rise is more limited, +0.45%, the index is just above 40,000 points, the highest level since November 2007.

Moderate increases also for the other European stock exchanges (+0.12% for the Stoxx Europe 600) and for the American ones, with the S&P500 index marking +0.6%. The Dow Jones is negative (-0.37%), weighed down by the -14% of the insurance company UnitedHealth. The company announced that it has appointed Stephen J. Hemsley as the new CEO, after Andrew Witty's decision to leave the position for personal reasons. In addition, the group suspended its outlook for 2025, citing higher-than-expected costs related to the state Medicare Advantage program.

Nasdaq performed better, +1.1%, led by Nvidia, +4.3%.

Today's most anticipated data, US inflation in April, did not change the picture. The headline figure, +2.3%, was a tenth lower than expected and the previous month, while core inflation remained steady at 2.8%.

Investors are probably taking their time to evaluate the China-US agreement. Beijing has already instructed Chinese companies to resume orders for Boeing aircraft.

Meanwhile, good news from Germany: the ZEW Index of economic expectations for May improves: from -14 points to +25.

Among the Ftse Mib stocks, the biggest increases were for Banca Mps (+4.45%) and Iveco (+3.68%), the latter having been the subject of news for days regarding the possible sale of the Defense division. The biggest drops were for Nexi (-1.88%) and Campari (-2.50%).