The FTSE MIB fell 1% to around 42,000 in early trading on Wednesday, extending losses for a fifth session to a four-week low. Sentiment remained soured by fading expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts and ongoing concerns over tech valuations, as Nvidia is set to report quarterly earnings later today. Across the bourse, heavyweight financials were mostly in the red, led by UniCredit, which dropped more than 1% following reports it may consider smaller rival BPER as a potential acquisition target. Other notable laggards among banking stocks included Intesa Sanpaolo (-1.3%), Unipol Gruppo (-1.1%), Banca Mediolanum (-1.2%), Recordati (-1.5%), and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (-1.2%). Enel also slipped 2% after RBC cut its rating on the country’s largest utility to underperform from sector perform. On the upside, Tenaris gained more than 2%, while Saipem added over 1%.