Brent crude is trading above $110 amid the deadlock at the UN Security Council meeting on the Strait of Hormuz.
However, on Wall Street, buyers are pushing for new records, with attention focused on first-quarter earnings and the Fed meeting.
This was preceded by a minor correction in the major European indices, with the trend remaining bearish for the DAX 30 and CAC 40, although there was a rebound in the EuroStoxx Banks index, which indirectly interests investors on Euronext Athens.
No resolution is in sight for the Strait issue, and as long as the "deadlock" persists, prices for oil, raw materials, etc., will remain at levels that hurt the European economy and business much more severely than those in other regions.
Market sentiment is moderate, with the VIX/CBOE at 18.02 (-3.69%), copper futures at $6,058 (-0.56%), the 10-year yield at 4.352%, and earlier S&P 500 futures at 7,172.25 (-0.08%).
Awaiting quarterly earnings announcements—as a reminder, the day after tomorrow it’s Amazon, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Alphabet’s turn (and Apple on Friday—May Day holiday for the Greek stock market as well).
On Euronext Athens, a second consecutive session with PPC in the spotlight, with trading volume at 65 million euros out of a total of 203.8 million.
Trading ranged between 18.10 and 18.45, with a closing price of 18.30 euros; all orders were in positive territory, from the first to the last. Following Friday’s trading (nearly 98 million), indicative of the very active participation of “strong hands,” as well as the subsequent activity of “hot money.” Since Saturday, Christos Kitsios has mentioned the prospect of a 50-50 partnership with a hyperscaler for the investmentin Kozani.
The banking sector remains the leading sector, with steady trading in the shares of the four systemic banks, and a notable feature of the session was the negative "turnaround" of the three toward the end of the session. National Bank shares closed at €14.085, Piraeus Bank at €8.254, and Eurobank at €3.825, while Alpha Bank was the only one to close in positive territory at €3.594. A broker attributed the "turnaround" to the Ministry of Finance’s announcement that a bill addressing abusive fees and "fine print" in contracts would be submitted to Parliament by the end of May.
However, while sellers were active in banking stocks, buyers maintained the upper hand in top blue chips, resulting in the outperformance of Viohalco (14.66), Cenergy Holdings (21.72), and gains in OTE (18.31), Jumbo (23.60), Motor Oil (35.02), Metlen (34.98), AEGEAN (12.60), Lamda (6.17), and others.
Continuation of the 2025 earnings announcements—Jumbo is up today —without the right to the 0.90295/share dividend for the 2025 fiscal year for AEGEAN.
Alumil and Mevaco are also announcing their 2025 results; tomorrow it’s Elinoil, and on Thursday—among others— EYDAP, EYATH, Aktor, and Iatriko Athinon.
Eurobank’s annual general meeting of shareholders begins shortly.