European Closes: Euro Stoxx 50 -1.40% at 6,184, Dax 40 -1.41% at 25,091, FTSE 100 -0.79% at 10,459, CAC 40 -1.22% at 7,769, FTSE MIB -2.51% at 49,972, IBEX 35 -1.68% at 19,118, PSI -0.92% at 9,334, SMI +0.14% at 13,808, AEX -0.94% at 1,118

Daily European close summaries of this kind are a wrap note rather than an event; their value lies in the internal dispersion, which here is wide. The FTSE MIB is the clear laggard at more than double the loss of the core, a pattern that in past episodes has pointed to banking-sector and periphery-spread sensitivity, since the Italian index carries an outsized weight of financials whose earnings track BTP spreads and domestic sovereign risk. The SMI closing positive against broad weakness fits its established defensive profile, with healthcare and consumer staples tending to outperform on down days, and the FTSE 100 similarly cushioned by its own defensive and commodity skew. The uniformity of losses across the DAX, CAC and Euro Stoxx suggests a broad risk-off session rather than a country-specific driver, though the absence of a catalyst in the headline leaves the trigger to the session's earlier wires. What distinguishes a routine pullback from something more durable in episodes of this kind is whether the periphery underperformance persists into follow sessions and whether the peripheral sovereign spread widens alongside the MIB. The overnight Asian handoff and any follow-through in the European open are the standard next tells.