MILAN, March 7, 2026, 08:16 CET
The FTSE MIB in Italy wrapped up Friday at 44,152.26—a 6.48% slide since Feb. 27, putting it sharply under the 52-week peak of 47,650.97 reached just the week before. Milan saw that reversal come quickly.
The selloff was broad. Over the week, Europe’s STOXX 600 slid 5.5%, with both Frankfurt and Paris enduring their steepest drops since April last year; Madrid fared even worse, marking its biggest weekly decline in four years. Banks retreated 1.7% on Friday. “Europe was a bit more exposed” to the pain from higher oil and stagflation risks—sluggish expansion mixed with sticky inflation—said Ciaran Callaghan, head of European equity research at Amundi. Reuters
That’s hitting Milan right now, with the oil shock creeping back into rate expectations. ECB’s Isabel Schnabel called current policy “a good place” but cautioned that the surge in energy costs has muddied the inflation outlook; traders responded by upping their wagers on an ECB hike in 2026. Reuters
By the end of Friday, losses for local stocks stood out. STMicroelectronics slid 5.06%. BPER Banca tumbled 3.80%. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena finished down 2.74%, while Banco BPM gave up 1.88%.
Not everyone was selling. Leonardo climbed 3.39%, topping Milan’s session, with Fincantieri up 2.59% and Eni advancing 1.51%. Leonardo’s latest boost follows its 1 billion pound UK helicopter deal announced earlier in the week.
Nexi delivered one of the week’s biggest jolts, tumbling up to 22% to a record low on Thursday. The payments company rolled out a three-year strategy aimed at fending off stiffer competition and adjusting to softer short-term growth. Some analysts said the market reaction was overblown. CEO Paolo Bertoluzzo leveled with investors: “You don’t have to believe we can go to the moon,” as he emphasized a pivot toward more predictable cash flow. Reuters
Banks faced lingering domestic political risks, too. Brussels kept up pressure on Rome for further tweaks to its “golden power” rules—the mechanism letting the state halt or attach strings to strategic deals—after UniCredit pointed to government moves as the reason it scrapped its Banco BPM approach. Government figures put 903 deals flagged under the regime in 2025, a jump of 37% on the year. Reuters
Italian financials head into next week juggling several active threads. Monte dei Paschi is set to reveal share-swap terms for the planned full buyout of Mediobanca on March 10. Both shares slid over 6% back on Feb. 27, with investors spooked by the scant information.
The calculation is straightforward: Milan’s market remains vulnerable if oil keeps rising. Goldman Sachs flagged Brent crude pushing past $100 a barrel as soon as next week, should the Strait of Hormuz situation fail to stabilize. Yet, stocks bounced on Wednesday—proof of how sharply sentiment can reverse. XTB’s Kathleen Brooks called it the effect of just a “merest whiff” of possible resolution, despite the underlying nerves. Reuters
