(Alliance News) - European markets are projected to open higher Thursday, according to IG futures, as investors await more important U.S. inflation data this afternoon.

"Any negative surprises on the inflation front could revive Federal Reserve hawks, but we are far from expecting another hike in September; Fed funds futures activity rates more than 85 percent chance of a pause at the September FOMC meeting," comments Ipek Ozkardeskaya, Senior Analyst at Swissquote Bank.

Meanwhile, the U.S. announced on Wednesday that it was taking steps to restrict some U.S. investments in China, targeting high-tech sectors such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence-a move that could further weaken bilateral ties.

Indeed, China's Foreign Ministry has criticized the move as an attempt at "anti-globalization and de-synicization," warning that China will "resolutely safeguard its rights and interests."

Thus, the FTSE Mib is expected up 177.5 points or 0.6 percent after closing up 1.3 percent at 28,308.09.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is expected to be up 41.6 points or 0.6 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is expected to open up 62.6 points or 0.9 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is given in the green by 103.7 points or 0.7 percent.

Among Italy's smaller listings, the Mid-Cap closed up 0.6 percent to 41,723.73, the Small-Cap in the green 0.6 percent to 26,842.59 and the Italy Growth up 0.3 percent to 8,880.93.

On the main index in Piazza Affari on Wednesday, FinecoBank was at the top with 7.1 percent. The company last week reported that in July net inflows were confirmed at EUR486 million, in line with the estimates announced at the time of the first-half results.

Since the beginning of the year, inflows amount to EUR5.7 billion.

Banco BPM follows, up 5.5 percent. Also doing well was UniCredit, up 4.4 percent, and Intesa Sanpaolo - up 2.3 percent - which announced Monday that it had provided a EUR2.5 million loan to Selene, a Lucca-based company that is a leading manufacturer of flexible plastic packaging for industrial use mostly made of polyethylene, with funding made available by the European Investment Bank.

Despite the good results, Assicurazioni Generali gave up 1.2 percent, placing it at the bottom, after reporting normalized net income of EUR2.33 billion in the first half of the year, up 61 percent from EUR1.44 billion as of June 30, 2022.

Operating income is up sharply to EUR3.72 billion, up 28 percent from EUR2.90 billion, partly due to diversification of profit sources, which includes the contribution of completed acquisitions.

Leonardo closed 0.3 percent in the red after announcing Wednesday that it had confirmed its leadership in the private helicopter transport market by announcing new contracts in Latin America during official ceremonies at the LABACE 2023 show.

Gruppomodena became the official distributor for Leonardo's AW119Kx, AW109, AW169, and AW139 helicopter models in the civil market in Uruguay and Argentina, and also signed a contract for two AW119Kx light single-engine aircraft.

On the Mid-Cap, Banca Popolare di Sondrio ended up 2.5 percent after reviewing and approving the consolidated half-year financial report as of June 30 with a record net profit of EUR207.1 million from EUR105.0 million in the same period last year.

Net interest income amounted to EUR427.0 million up from EUR320.0 million in the first half of 2022.

Credito Emiliano gained 3.3 percent after approving consolidated results for the first half of the year on Monday, a period closed with consolidated net income at EUR298.7 million from EUR157.0 million in 2022. Credem points out that it expensed EUR25 million in contributions to funds for the management of troubled banks in that perid. The result is up 90% from the same period last year.

Return on capital-annualized ROE-was at 17.9 percent, while annualized ROTE was 20.8 percent.

Bologna's Guglielmo Marconi Airport rose 0.7 percent, after reporting Friday that it surpassed a record 1.1 million passengers in July, which improves by nearly 90,000 on the previous one.

The figure also shows a 17 percent increase over July 2019, before the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, and 13 percent over July 2022.

On the Small-Cap segment, Greenthesis closed up 1.1 percent and announced that - through its wholly owned subsidiary under Emirati law Ambienthesis Middle East DMCC - it has been entrusted with the performance of characterization activities, in the amount of approximately EUR100,000, functional to the subsequent remediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil to be carried out in the Abu Dhabi industrial area.

Pierrel - up 3.8 percent - announced Monday that it has obtained marketing authorization in Ecuador for its Articaine-based dental anesthetic, Orabloc in the 1:100,000 formulation.

With the registration in Ecuador, Orabloc makes its entry into South America.

As of June 30, Tesmec Group -- in the red by 2.2 percent -- had consolidated revenues of EUR125.3 million up from EUR113.3 million as of June 30, 2022, mainly due to the performance of the Energy and Rail segments. Specifically, revenues from product sales of EUR97.0 million as of June 30, 2023, up from EUR70.9 million as of June 30, 2022, and revenues from services and work in progress of EUR28.3 million, down from EUR42.4 million.

Among SMEs, Laboratorio Farmaceutico Erfo rose 1.0 percent, after it reported Wednesday that the board of directors reviewed some consolidated economic and financial management data as of June 30, reporting revenues at EUR3.4 million up 21 percent from EUR2.8 million in the same period last year.

Ebitda is EUR1.03 million and adjusted Ebitda is about EUR1.02 million and equal to 30% of revenues.

Technoprobe gave up 8.5 percent after announcing Wednesday that the board of directors reviewed and approved consolidated results as of June 30 reporting profit down 53 percent to EUR31.1 million from EUR66.6 million in the same period last year.

Consolidated revenues amounted to EUR196.3 million, down 22 percent from the first half of 2022 when they were EUR250.3 million.

Alfonsino - in the green by 1.4 percent - announced Wednesday the official start of the road test of its new proprietary platform, announced to be in an advanced stage of development at the end of June.

In New York on the European night, the Dow closed 0.5 percent in the red at 35,123.36, the Nasdaq finished down 1.2 percent at 13,722.02 and the S&P 500 gave up 0.7 percent to 4,467.71.

In Asia, the Nikkei is in the green by 0.9 percent to 32,499.77, the Shanghai Composite rises 0.2 percent to 3,250.53 and the Hang Seng is in the red by 0.2 percent to 19,207.74.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0992 against USD1.0978 in Wednesday's closing European equities while the pound is worth USD1.2728 from USD1.2720 on Wednesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD87.72 per barrel versus USD87.00 per barrel at last night's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,916.83 an ounce from USD1,950.75 an ounce Wednesday night.

Thursday's economic calendar calls for the release of inflation data at 1000 CEST in Italy, and the ECB's monthly report is released at the same time.

At 1300 CEST it is the turn of OPEC's monthly report. Also from the US, at 1430 CEST comes data on unemployment claims, inflation and real incomes.

Among companies listed on Piazza Affari, results from Servizi Italia, Unipol and UnipolSai are expected.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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