European stock markets slowed down in the middle of the session after a positive start in the wake of the rebound in the Chinese stock markets.
London rose by 0.5%, Milan and Paris by 0.2%, while Frankfurt lost 0.1%.
Futures on Wall Street are also keeping pace, with that on the Dow Jones down by 0.1% and that on the Nasdaq up by 0.1%.
Caution therefore seems to prevail among investors after expectations for a rate cut already at the beginning of spring were reduced in the wake of the good data on the American economy and the calls for caution from the presidents of the Fed, Jerome Powell, and of the ECB, Christine Lagarde.
On the price lists we also look at the quarterly reports which continue to arrive with BP promoted (+5.5%) and UBS rejected (-2.3%) and Infineon (-2.8%), which cut its 2024 revenue guidance, confirming the signs of weakness for microchip demand.
Pirelli (+3.5%), Leonardo (+3.1%) and Bper (+2.7%) are running in Milan, ahead of Amplifon (+1.9%), Azimut (+1.5%) and Eni(+1.3%).
Anima does well after the accounts (+1.1%), Intesa (+1.2%) and Fineco (+0.6%) advance while awaiting the quarterly results, while Banca Popolare di Sondrio declines (-0.4%).
The declines are led by Interpump (-5.4%), which is affected by the cuts in estimates by Equita, Intermonte and Kepler, sales on Erg (-2.2%), Nexi (-1.3%), Enel (-1, 1%) and STM (-1.1%).
Government bonds have moved little, after two days of strong increases in yields in the wake of the tapering of the rate cut: the spread between BTPs and Bunds remains stable at 155 points, while the yield on the Italian 10-year bond rises by one point to 3.88%.
On the energy front, oil rises by 0.6%, with WTI at 73.2 dollars per barrel and Brent at 78.5 dollars while gas advances by 1.3% to 28.7 euros per megawatt hour.
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