Statistical Bulletin no. 29/1 - Market - July 2026

Financial markets in the first half of 2026

In the first half of 2026, Italian financial markets recorded an increase in market capitalisation, despite a reduction in the number of companies supervised by Consob. Trading activity continued to stand at high levels, while showing differentiated trends across the main categories of financial instruments: trading increased in equities, ETFs, ETCs and ETNs, as well as in standardised derivatives, covered warrants and certificates; by contrast, it remained broadly stable for Italian government bonds and declined for bonds issued by Italian entities other than the government bonds, mainly corporate bonds, and for mutual funds.

Regarding issuers listed on Italian regulated markets or admitted to trading on Italian multilateral trading facilities, the number of supervised companies is 416 at the end of June 2026, of which 401 are Italian and 15 are headquartered abroad. This figure is down from the 427 companies recorded at the end of December 2025 and the 424 companies observed at the end of June 2025, confirming the continued reduction in the perimeter of supervised issuers (Table 1.1).

In particular, at the end of June 2026, the number of companies listed on Euronext Milan stands at 195, down from 198 at the end of 2025 and 202 at the end of June 2025; this trend reflects only one new admission and four delistings during the first half of 2026. Euronext Growth Milan also records a decline: the number of companies admitted to trading fell to 203, down from 211 at the end of 2025 and 204 at the end of June 2025, reflecting a net loss of new listings relative to delistings. The contribution of Vorvel remains limited and stable, with 18 supervised companies as of the end of June 2026 (Tables 1.1 and 1.3).

Overall, the first half of 2026 confirms a basic trend of reduction in the number of supervised companies, already observed in previous years. Unlike in the second half of 2025, this trend also extends to Euronext Growth Milan, which, in fact, in the first half of 2026 does not provide sufficient offsetting effects to mitigate the overall contraction.

Against this backdrop, the total market capitalisation of supervised issuers increases, from approximately €1,077 billion at the end of 2025 to about €1,209 billion at the end of June 2026, up 12.3%. Compared with the end of June 2025, the increase amounts to around 27.3%. The market capitalisation of Italian companies rises to approximately €1,028 billion, up 10.8% from the end of 2025 and 31.3% from the end of June 2025. Consistent with this trend, the ratio of market capitalisation to GDP rises to around 53% at the end of June 2026, up from approximately 48% at the end of 2025 (Table 1.2). This points to a framework in which the number of supervised listed companies is declining, while overall market capitalisation is increasing.

In the first half of 2026, trading activity on secondary markets remains at high levels. The trading value of equities of supervised companies amounts to approximately €519 billion, up 18.3% from the first half of 2025. Growth is particularly concentrated in trading on Euronext Milan, which continues to account for almost all domestic equity trading activity in Italy by turnover (Table 1.4).

In the bond market, the trading value of Italian government securities on Italian markets amounts to approximately €5,904 billion, broadly in line with the first half of 2025 recording indeed a slight decrease of 1.5% (Table 1.5). By contrast, trading in bonds issued by Italian entities other than the government ones is weaker, standing at approximately €4.1 billion, down by around 23% compared with the corresponding period of the previous year (Table 1.6).

During the first half of 2026, trading in ETFs and in securitised derivative instruments, such as ETCs and ETNs, continues to expand. The total traded value amounts to approximately €119 billion, up more than 60% from the first half of 2025. Growth mainly concerns ETFs and ETCs, while trading in ETNs remains more limited overall (Table 1.8). Mutual funds follow the opposite trend: their traded value declines to approximately €44 million, recording a contraction of around 43% compared with the first half of 2025 (Table 1.9).

In the first half of 2026, trading in standardised derivatives increases compared with the corresponding period of the previous year: the overall notional trading value amounts to approximately €627 billion, up by around 9.7% from the first half of 2025 (see Table 1.10). At the end of June 2026, the number of open positions stands at around 5.35 million, up 20% from the end-of-2025 figure and broadly in line with the level recorded at the end of June 2025 (Table 1.11).

In line with the positive developments observed in the standardised derivatives segment, the trading value of covered warrants and certificates in the first half of 2026 increases significantly to approximately €20.5 billion. This figure is around 17.8% higher than in the first half of 2025 and is mainly attributable to trading in certificates, which continue to represent the main component of the segment (Table 1.12).

As regards net short positions, at the end of June 2026 they account for approximately 1.7% of the total capitalisation of supervised listed companies, up from 1.3% at the end of 2025. For Italian companies only, the ratio stands at around 1.6%, while for the financial sector it amounts to approximately 1.2% of capitalisation, also increasing compared with the levels recorded at the end of the previous year (Table 1.13).

Finally, in the first half of 2026 a further increase is observed in settlement fails for equity transactions in companies listed on regulated markets and cleared by Euronext Clearing. The average percentage of failed settlement value relative to trading value is around 1.2%, up from the 2025 average and the levels recorded in the first half of the previous year, while remaining below the peak observed in the third quarter of 2025 (Table 1.14).

Authors:

Martina Mosco (Coordinator) - CONSOB, Research and Regulation Division (m.mosco@consob.it)
Francesco Scalese - CONSOB, Research and Regulation Division (f.scalese@consob.it)

Special thanks for their valuable collaboration to:

Valentina Alfi (v.alfi@consob.it), Elena Costarelli (e.costarelli@consob.it) and Sandro Leocata (s.leocata@consob.it) - CONSOB, Markets Supervision Division

Davide Danzilli (d.danzilli@consob.it), Simona Di Rocco (s.dirocco@consob.it) - CONSOB, Research and Regulation Division

Editorial Secretariat: Andrea Cianciullo - CONSOB, Research and Regulation Division.

For any information and clarifications, please contact: ufficio.datagovernance@consob.it

ISSN 2281-3101 [online]