Piazza Affari drops 0.8% weighed down by coupon detachment

Markets seem to believe that the escalation can be stopped and are reacting cautiously to the US attack on Iran.

European stock markets are weak, but Milan is the only one showing a significant contraction at the end of the morning. Piazza Affari drops 0.8%, weighed down by Poste Italiane (-5%), Pirelli and Leonardo (-4%) which today detached dividend coupons to shareholders. London is at parity, Frankfurt and Paris are dropping about 0.3%.

Wall Street stock market futures are running in the green, with the market expected to open slightly higher.

The strongest reaction this morning was in the price of oil, which opened trading at its highest since January.

But then it folded, Brent is now trading at $75.9 a barrel, up 5% from a week ago.

Gas on the Amsterdam market is changing hands at 41.4 euros per kilowatt hour, up 9% from last Monday.