Europeans to open slightly lower

(Alliance News) - Major European stock exchanges are expected to open slightly below par Tuesday morning, according to IG futures, as investors remain cautious ahead of Fed decisions to be announced Wednesday.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is expected to fall 82.5 points or 0.3 percent after giving up 1.1 percent to 28,585.86.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is given a slight decline, Paris' CAC 40 is expected to be in the red by 16.0 points or 0.2 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is down 33.7 points or 0.2 percent.

"This week U.S. policymakers will surely opt for a 'hawkish pause,'" commented Ipek Ozkardeskaya, Senior Analyst at Swissquote Bank. "The Fed is likely to revise its growth expectations significantly higher. The looming government shutdown, student loan repayment, and UAW strikes will definitely have a negative impact on the U.S. growth numbers, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defends the 'soft landing' scenario as the labor market is still healthy, industrial production is rising, and inflation is coming down."

Despite the latest weakness in employment data, U.S. inflation data surprised on the upside last week. "An important part of the disinflation since last summer has been due to the fading of post-Covid supply problems, which led to an increase in supply and thus slower price growth. But the improvement in supply may be coming to an end, and oil prices are rising. Therefore, the Fed will definitely be cautious and reasonably hawkish this week," the analyst added further.

On Eccles Building, in the CME Group platform's FedWatch Tool, using futures also based on the actual federal funds rate, or EFFR, the rate confirmation in Wednesday's meeting has a 99 percent probability for confirmation range 525/550 bps. In contrast, the 25 bps rise in the 550/575 bps target is priced at 1%.

Among Italy's smaller lists on Monday evening, the Mid-Cap gave up 1.1 percent to 40,606.97, while the Small-Cap gave up 1.0 percent to 26,332.49 and Italy Growth instead picked up 0.1 percent to 8,628.90.

In Milan, on the main list in Piazza Affari, in the small group of relaunchers were bankers, including Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, up 2.1% in its fourth session among the bullish.

Banco BPM and BPER Banca, also up, rose 1.6 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.

Moncler, on the other hand, gave up 3.1 percent after three sessions on the bullish side.

ERG, on the other hand, left 2.8% on the parterre, with new price at EUR24.84 in the wake of the red with which it closed Friday's session.

CNH Industrial - in the red by 0.4 percent - announced Friday evening that it had bought back its own shares between September 6 and 8 for a total of EUR2.7 million. The stock repeats the last session's equally slight loss.

On the Mid-Cap, on a positive note-among others-was GVS, which took home 5.4 percent after the 1.2 percent decline with which it closed the previous session.

Credito Emiliano -- in the green by 1.6 percent -- announced Monday that it has submitted an invitation to take over EUR200.0 million of the EUR500.0 million bond maturing in October 2025. The offer expires on September 25. Meanwhile, Credem has announced that as part of its EUR5.00 billion EMTN program, it intends to issue new bonds denominated fixed to floating rate senior preferred social, in euros and maturing in March 2030, to be offered on market terms to qualified investors.

Maire Tecnimont -- in the green by 0.1 percent -- on Monday announced that it is known that the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has approved the prospectus for the public offering of Maire bonds to 2028. Specifically, this is a non-convertible bond for up to EUR200 million, with a maturity of five years and a minimum fixed interest rate of 6 percent pa. The minimum denomination that can be subscribed is EUR1,000 and the issue price is 100 percent of par value.

Technoprobe, on the other hand, gave up 4.0%, veering downward after two sessions among the bullish.

Negative balance, among many, also for Brunello Cucinelli, which posted minus 3.1% after Friday night's 1.4% green.

On the Small-Cap, Olidata closed up more than 10% with new price at EUR0.74 per share, in its second bullish session in a row.

In contrast, Itway did well, advancing 4.6 percent. The company reported on Monday that its subsidiary 4Science Spa, which is consolidated in Itway's financial statements and specializes in the Big Data, Digital Repositories and Data Management Systems market, reported first-half revenues at EUR1.7 million, up 37 percent from the same period in 2022 when they were EUR1.2 million, and Ebitda at EUR121,708 from EUR201,182 in the first half of 2022. However,the company posted a loss of EUR49,880, from a profit of EUR30,607 in the same period last year, pushed down by a 40 percent increase in personnel costs.

Orsero soared 1.7 percent after disclosing that it reported adjusted net income of EUR33.4 million in the first half of the year, up 57& from EUR32.4 million reported in the same period of 2022. On Friday, the company announced the launch of a share buyback program for a maximum of 70,000 shares, worth up to EUR1.0 million.

Giglio.Group, on the other hand, closed down 4.9 percent, in its third session among the bearish.

Restart left 3.9 percent on the parterre, after closing flat on Friday evening.

Beewize--down 2.2%--reported Friday that the board of directors approved the condensed consolidated half-year financial statements as of June 30 reporting a loss of EUR673,000 from a loss of EUR1.8 million in the first half of 2022. Net revenues amounted to EUR2.65 million in line with EUR2.59 million in the same period last year.

Among SMEs, Arterra Bioscience advanced more than 11 percent bringing the new price to EUR1.80, with the last bullish session dating back to the last session in August.

In contrast, Iervolino & Lady Bacardi rallied more than 12 percent, with new price at EUR1.04.

On a negative note, mention should be made of Copernicus, which in the rear posted a minus 5.9 percent on its fourth bearish session.

GEL, on the other hand, gave up 0.3%, setting the bar at EUR1.51.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed 0.8 percent in the red at 33,264.00, the Hang Seng gives up 0.1 percent to 17,913.00 and the Shanghai Composite is down 0.1 percent to 3,122.82.

In New York on European night, the Dow closed in fractional green at 34,624.30, as did the Nasdaq at 13,710.24 and the S&P 500 at 4,453.53.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0678 versus USD1.0689 in Monday's European equities close, while the pound was worth USD1.2378 from USD1.2394 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD95.01 per barrel versus USD94.73 per barrel at Monday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,930.40 an ounce from USD1,927.49 an ounce on Monday evening.

On Tuesday's economic calendar, from the Eurozone at 1000 CEST comes the current account balance, followed at 1100 CEST by the consumer price index.

From the U.S. at 1430 CEST come the various reports on the construction industry, while at 2230 CEST will be coming the weekly oil stocks figure.

On the corporate calendar, results from Franchi Umberto Marmi, Gibus and Toscana Aeroporti are expected.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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