Piazza Affari fell sharply by late morning, weighed down by banks and the collapse of Prysmian, among generally negative European exchanges that proved more resilient as they are less exposed than Milan to the financial sector.

The overall mood is once again dictated by nervousness surrounding artificial intelligence, due to its potential impact on the productive world on one hand and the substantial investments it is demanding on the other.

US futures are moving between flat and slightly negative ahead of US inflation data scheduled for early afternoon.

Around 12:30 pm, the FTSE Mib is down 1.7% with volumes around 1.5 billion euros.

Noteworthy stocks:

** Banks are falling again after yesterday's rebound, with the sector index down 2.5%. The trend is similar in the European sector. BPER and POP SONDRIO are losing between 4.5% and 4.9%, while UNICREDIT is down over 3% and BANCO BPM 2.7%.

** PRYSMIAN plunges, losing 7.8% following a Financial Times article about a possible reduction in US tariffs on metal derivatives.

** TENARIS (+2%), TELECOM (+1.2%), and LEONARDO (+1%) are performing well, in line with the European defense sector.

** GENERALI is weathering the wave of selling in financials better, up 0.2%, thanks to Citigroup initiating coverage with a 'buy' rating.

** CEMENTIR is down sharply (-5.7%), which, according to Equita, issued guidance yesterday below expectations.

** AVIO is up (+1%) after the Ariane 6 launcher successfully completed a flight using boosters developed by Europropulsion (a joint venture between Avio and Ariane).

** REVO is also performing well (+1.8%) after Ivass gave the green light to Vittoria Assicurazioni to increase its stake to 20%, according to MF.

** Among smaller stocks, REDELFI is up over 2% as it considers divesting some of its US subsidiaries.

(Claudia Cristoferi, editing Sabina Suzzi)