Trump's trade policy remains at the center of debate in the markets, which, however, are today trying to ignore new threats, such as the one against the EU.
The focus shifts to expectations of ECB rate cuts, reinforced by statements from several European central bank officials today in Davos for the annual 'World Economic Forum' meeting.
Also up are U.S. futures thanks to extremely positive Netflix subscriber data and tech support.
As of 1 p.m., the Ftse Mib is up 0.14 percent. Volumes just under 1 billion.
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Brilliant Prysmian rebounds about 4% to new all-time highs after it announced yesterday that it has abandoned plans to build a plant in the US to make cables for offshore wind farms.
Positive cues on other industrials such as Interpump (+1.6%) and Leonardo (+1.5%).
Telecom Italia rises 1.4% below the session highs touched in the morning on news that the Rome Court of Appeals rejected the government's request to suspend the roughly 1 billion payment owed to the company over the 1998 licence fee restitution affair.
Snam does not warm the market with its business plan to 2029 unveiled today that sees slightly better targets than analysts' expectations. The stock rises 0.7 percent.
At the bottom of the Ftse Mib, Erg loses 3.5 percent in sluggish utility sector. On the utilities sector, Banca Akros analysts point to press rumors about speculation by some members of the government majority to introduce a 'cap' on renewable energy selling prices. For the broker it would be "clearly bad news for companies exposed to renewables (particularly hydropower)."
(Andrea Mandalà, editing Francesca Piscioneri)