Piazza Affari begins the day slightly down amid sluggish European stock markets in a session that will be affected by the closing of Wall Street for Martin Luther King Day and especially by the anticipation of the inauguration of new U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has promised that he will sign a hundred executive orders within hours of taking office, and investors in Europe are especially awaiting his decisions on tariffs.

Around 9:30 a.m., the Ftse Mib gave up 0.25 percent.

Positive tone for banks (+0.6% the sector in Italy) after a slew of rising target prices from Barclays. Mps leads the group with a 1.5% rise.

Weaker are the industrial stocks, with Stellantis little moved after the run of the last two sessions. Iveco, on the other hand, remains tonic.

Minus sign for energy, weak Telecom Italia (-1.5%), which also remains very volatile. According to a source, the January 22 board meeting may not deliberate on the sale of Sparkle since the banks working on the dossier may need a few more days to finalize the financing.

In light doValue (+3%) fresh from two new contracts in Greece and Cyprus.

(Claudia Cristoferi, editing Stefano Bernabei)