Indices little moved, traders await Fed

(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari closed Tuesday's trading around parity, on the heels of the lackluster performance of other European bourses, on a day marked by the only U.S. inflation figure to punctuate trading.

The annual US inflation rate slowed to 3.1 percent in November, the lowest level in five months, from 3.2 percent in October and in line with market forecasts. The data were released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of labor statistics.

Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at IG, said, "German investor morale is better than expected -- the ZEW indicator of economic sentiment hit a new high since March -- and data on the U.S. consumer price index are in line, except for a slight 0.1 percent month-on-month increase versus a forecast of 0 percent. U.S. small business optimism that slipped to six-month lows also did not have much impact ahead of Wednesday's Fed meeting and rate decision."

"All eyes are on the central bank meetings over the next two days, during which rates are expected to remain unchanged as central bankers access their economies for further clues on what monetary policy to pursue. Slowing wage growth in the U.K. could help steer the Bank of England away from its still-aggressive rhetoric but its voting members will keep an eye on Wednesday's industrial and manufacturing production data as well as U.K. Gross Domestic Product."

The FTSE Mib closed Tuesday down 0.3 percent to 30,342.15, the Mid-Cap fell 0.2 percent to 42,608.57, the Small-Cap lost 0.3 percent to 26,588.98 and Italy Growth did not move from parity at 8,067.25.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closed at par, as did Paris' CAC 40 and Frankfurt's DAX 40.

On the Mib, Banco BPM did well, up 1.2 percent. The board of directors approved the group's 2023-2026 strategic plan.

"The ambition of the new plan is to increase shareholder remuneration very significantly, leveraging financial and industrial levers that will further boost total revenue growth to EUR5.4 billion as of 2026 from EUR5.25 billion at the end of 2023," reads the released note.

On the profitability front, the group is targeting net income of over EUR1.5 billion to 2026 from EUR1.2 billion to 2023 and ROTE to 13.5 percent to 2026 from 12 percent to 2023.

Hera and Snam signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday to create a hydrogen production hub aimed at contributing to the decarbonization of Emilia-Romagna.

The centerpiece of Modena's Hydrogen Valley will be IdrogeMO, a project by Hera Group and Snam to build a production hub capable of producing up to 400 tons of renewable hydrogen per year, with the possibility of future expansions to increase production. In total, the planned investment amounts to more than EUR20 million. Hera's stock closed down 0.6 percent as did Snam's.

UniCredit lost 1.0 percent after reporting Monday that it is well above the European Central Bank's SREP requirements. As of January 1, the bank will have to meet a CET 1 ratio of 10.0%, a Tier 1 ratio of 11.9%, and a Total Capital ratio of 14.4%.

As of September 30, UniCredit was showing values well above these thresholds: the fully loaded CET 1 ratio was 17.2%, the transitional CET 1 ratio was 17.5%, the Tier 1 ratio was 19.2%, and the Total Capital ratio was 22.2%.

On the Mid-Cap, Buzzi rose 2.0 percent and posted the best performance of its parent list.

Antares Vision, on the other hand, closed on the other side of the basket, complicit with a 3.6 percent decline, with the shares losing eight cents from the start, finishing trading at EUR2.81 each.

The most traded, however, was Saras, with as many as 4.3 million shares changing hands and with the stock falling 0.9 percent.

Among the small-cap companies, B&C Speakers -- up 0.3 percent -- completed the acquisition of assets related to the Eminence Speakers brand.

The newly formed company B&C Speakers China, wholly owned by broadcaster B&C Speakers, purchased part of the production assets from Eminence Dongguan Enterprise for a set consideration of EUR900,000.

Triboo--up 0.8 percent--announced Tuesday a strategic partnership between its Triboo Shanghai, Asian headquarters of the Italian digital transformation factory, and Alviero Martini 1A Classe, the well-known lifestyle brand of the iconic Mappa Geo.

Alviero Martini, the company writes, thus aims at "strengthening its presence in the Chinese market, which is expected to be durable and profitable."

Already imminent, in fact, is the debut of Alviero Martini 1A Classe with a flagship on the esteemed e-commerce platform T-Mall (Alibaba) and on the social platforms WeChat, Weibo and Little Red Book that boast the presence of billions of users.

Vianini lost 6.6 percent after Monday's shareholders' meeting approved a maximum EUR60 million capital increase.

In addition, shareholders gave the okay to the elimination of the indication of the express par value of the company's ordinary shares.

Exprivia closed at a breakeven after signing a binding agreement to take over 85 percent of Balance Spa.

Balance is an ICT services company operating mainly in the field of salesforce services, a world leader in cloud-based customer relationship management solutions.

Exprivia and Balance's current shareholders have committed to underwrite a cash capital increase, of which Exprivia's share will be EUR1.5 million, financed from its own funds; the purpose is to provide Balance with the financial resources to be able to pursue its planned growth and development objectives over the next four years.

Among SMEs, Portobello lost 3.3 percent after the board of directors resolved to increase the company's share capital for cash, on a divisible and progressive basis, up to a maximum amount of nearly EUR8.0 million, through the issuance of ordinary shares.

The purpose of the transaction, the company note says, is to help strengthen Portobello's capital and financial structure in order to support the group's working capital and related development strategies.

TMP Group gave up 1.9 percent after announcing Tuesday that it is ready to enter the Spanish market of audiovisual productions for cinema and TV.

In fact, the company has just returned from an institutional trip to Madrid, Valencia and Andalucia that had "the objective of creating future strategic partnerships in the local audiovisual and film industry."

In New York, the Dow is up 0.3 percent to 36,530.35, the Nasdaq is up 0.3 percent to 14,468.62, and the S&P 500 is up 0.1 percent to 4,628.97.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0792 against USD1.0772 recorded in Monday's European stock close while the pound is worth USD1.2569 from USD1.2664 on Monday evening.

Brent crude is worth USD73.81 per barrel versus USD76.40 per barrel at Monday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,983.29 an ounce from USD1,992.90 an ounce last night.

Wednesday's macroeconomic calendar features UK Gross Domestic Product at 0800 CET, along with data on industrial production and UK trade balance. Room for money supply and new mortgages in China an hour later, while from Italy will come the unemployment rate at 1000 CET.

Eurozone industrial production will be released at 1100 CET, ten minutes before an auction of three- and seven-year BTPs.

From the US, focus on mortgage data at 1300 CET and the producer price index at 1430 CET. Gas and gasoline scrote numbers will be released at 1630 CET while the most important event of the day is at 2000 CET with the Federal Reserve's rate decision, followed by a press conference by the chairman, Jerome Powell, half an hour later.

Among the companies in the Piazza Affari, the accounts of AbitareIn and OVS are scheduled.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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