Piazza Affari storms after yesterday's rally triggered by the outcome of the first round of parliamentary elections in France.

The June eurozone inflation figure shows a slight decline, but the crucial services component remained stubbornly high, likely fueling fears among some European Central Bank officials that domestic price pressures may remain at elevated levels.

Now the investor spotlight turns to U.S. data in the afternoon when the Jolts on new jobs, one of the Fed's most closely monitored indicators, will be released, while tomorrow it will be the turn of the Adp data and Friday the government's employment numbers.

Weak U.S. stock index futures also bode ill for a negative start on Wall Street in the afternoon.

Around 12:40 p.m. the Ftse Mib is down 1.1 percent, on session lows. Volumes of 750 million.

Stocks in focus today

In the banking sector, biggies Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo register declines of around 1.3%. MPS loses 0.8 percent, Bper and Banco Bpm are also weak.

Trying to hold positions Leonardo (+0.15%) after a brighter start on rumors from Il Sole 24 Ore that the company is in "very advanced" negotiations with German group Rheinmetall to form an alliance on land armaments. According to broker Equita, "the agreement would be positive as it would quickly resolve the impasse that had arisen after the June 11 announcement of the halt to ongoing negotiations with Knds and would also allow Leonardo to enter the Franco-German project of the future European heavy tank."

On the opposite front, Stellantis sold off, giving up 3.3 percent. Similar trends also for Iveco. For the automaker, data on June registrations in France, Italy, and Spain weighed heavily, showing cumulative growth of 4 percent year-on-year at the market level versus the -4 percent marked by Stellantis, a broker points out.

Enel loses 0.9%. Stifel restarted coverage with a "Hold" recommendation and target price of 6.4 euros. The broker sees the shares fairly valued and an attractive dividend yield.

Saipem rally 1.6 percent supported by crude oil prices moving to two-month highs on expectations of a pickup in demand in the so-called "summer driving season." Money also on Eni at +0.65 percent.

Finally, positive debut on the Star segment for Sys-Dat with a jump of 6.55 percent, halving its opening-session gains. The IT services company started trading with a price of 3.4 euros in the middle of the range indicated at IPO between 3.20 and 3.80 euros.

(Giancarlo Navach, editing Andrea Mandalà)