(Alliance News) - European stock markets are expected to open lower Friday after aggressive rhetoric from the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve weakened risk appetite in global stock markets.

The Fed stands ready, if necessary, to raise interest rates further to bring inflation back to its long-term goal of 2 percent, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said. "We know that progress toward our 2 percent goal is not guaranteed: inflation has given us some illusions," Powell said at a conference in Washington.

"If it becomes appropriate to tighten policy further, we will not hesitate to do so," he added. "Although the Fed's rate committee is "committed" to reaching a sufficiently tight monetary policy stance, "we are not sure we have reached that stance," Powell said.

The FTSE Mib, therefore, after closing up 0.7 percent at 28,644.09 last night, marks a bearish path of 112.50 points.

Among the smaller listings last night, the Mid-Cap finished in the green 1.5 percent to 41,007.13, the Small-Cap up 1.2 percent to 25,556.53, and the Italy Growth in the red 0.2 percent to 7,660.44.

Paris's CAC 40 is giving up 40.30 points, Frankfurt's DAX 40 is contracting 75.30 points, and London's FTSE 100 is giving up 39.40 points.

On the main list of Piazza Affari, Nexi did best of all with a rise of 9.7 percent after approving its consolidated financial results as of September 30 on Wednesday evening. In the first nine months of the year, revenues stood at EUR2.44 billion, up 7.0% from EUR21.28 billion in the same period last year.

Ebitda was EUR1.26 billion, up 10 percent from the previous year, when it was EUR1.15 billion. Ebitda margin stood at 52 percent.

Azimut Holding -- up 3.3 percent -- reported Thursday that it closed the first nine months with a year-on-year increase in adjusted net income to EUR348.9 million from EUR302.3 million in the same period a year earlier.

The adjusted figure excludes a one-time charge of EUR19.4 million related to the tax settlement with the Internal Revenue Service for tax periods 2016 to 2021 and an accounting impact of EUR11.1 million -- up from EUR18.7 million in 2022 -- from the application of IFRS 17 accounting standard for insurance contracts.

The board of directors of Prysmian -- in the green by 1.8 percent -- approved the group's consolidated results for the first nine months of 2023, a peridus closed with net income increasing to EUR575 million from EUR431 million in the same peridus of 2022.

Group revenues amounted to EUR11.8 billion from EUR12.1 billion in the first nine months of 2022. "Decisive was the contribution of Business Projects, which reported organic growth of 24 percent," the company note reads.

Banca Mediolanum -- which closed up 2.4 percent -- reported Thursday that it ended the first nine months with a net profit of EUR572.2 million, up 52 percent from EUR377.1 million in the same period a year earlier.

Net interest income rose to EUR541.2 million from EUR257.7 million a year earlier while contribution margin increased to EUR1.29 billion from EUR987.2 million. Operating margin rose to EUR731.3 million from EUR485.1 million.

The board of Snam -- in the green by 1.0 percent -- announced Thursday that it had approved consolidated results for the first nine months, which closed with a net profit of EUR1.04 billion from EUR997 million in the same period last year. The board also approved the distribution of an interim 2023 dividend of EUR0.1128 per share, payable as of January 24, 2024.

Group adjusted net income for the first nine months was EUR942 million, up EUR10 million, compared to adjusted net income for the first nine months of 2022.

On the cadet segment, De' Longhi closed on top up 11 percent after reporting Thursday that earnings rose in both the nine months and the third quarter on a year-over-year basis.

Net income rose 43 percent in the nine months, to EUR142.2 million from EUR99.4 million, and more than doubled in the third quarter, to EUR59.5 million from EUR27.7 million in the same period a year earlier.

Iren gave up 11 percent. The company said Thursday that its board of directors approved results for the nine months ended Sept. 30 reporting a net gupp profit attributable to shareholders of EUR177 million, up 26 percent from EUR141 million recorded in the first nine months of 2022.

Revenues for the nine months were EUR4.63 billion, down 18 percent from EUR5.64 billion in the same period of 2022.

Consob has permanently halted the abusive takeover bid for Piaggio & C. ordinary shares -- in the green by 0.1 percent -- promoted in recent weeks by JSC Handel Gruppe, thus turning the temporary suspension of the offer announced last Oct. 10 into a final one.

The termination of the takeover bid is accompanied by a request to LinkedIN Ireland to make permanent the removal of the web pages through which it was promoted.

Italmobiliare -- up 1.5 percent -- reported Thursday that it achieved a group operating profit of EUR39.6 million in the first nine months of the year, up from EUR20.4 million in the first nine months of 2022.

Consolidated revenues for the period amounted to EUR418.5 million up from EUR366.8 million in the same period of 2022. At the aggregate level, revenues from Industrial Portfolio Companies grew by 2 percent to EUR1.43 billion while EBITDA rose to EUR178.9 million, up about 11 percent.

The board of Banca Ifis -- in the green by 3.1 percent -- on Thursday approved results for the first nine months, closing with net income attributable to the group at EUR124.7 million, up 18 percent from EUR105.5 million in the first nine months of 2022.

Net banking income, up 4.8 percent to EUR512.4 million from EUR488.7 million in the same period of 2022, benefited from the Commercial & Corporate Banking Sector's positive correlation to rising interest rates.

On the Small-Cap, TXT e-solutions finished up 1.9 percent after reporting Thursday that revenues were EUR159.4 million in the first nine months, up 73 percent from EUR92.4 million in the first nine months of 2022.

On a like-for-like basis, revenues grew 14 percent and acquisitions contributed EUR53.2 million. Total international revenues amounted to EUR31.7 million, representing about 20 percent of total revenues for the first nine months.

d'Amico International Shipping -- up 2.4 percent -- reported Thursday that revenues for the first nine months rose to USD305.4 million from USD213.4 million in the same period last year.

Net time charter revenues increased to USD301.8 million from USD209.8 million while Ebitda improved to USD213.1 million from USD135.3 million in the same period last year.

SIT's board of directors-which closed up 2.4 percent-approved consolidated results for the first nine months of 2023, with a loss of EUR19.4 million compared to a profit of EUR10.5 million for the same period in 2022.

Consolidated revenues for the first nine months were EUR242.1 million, registering a decrease of 17 percent compared to the same period 2022, when they were EUR290.4 million.

Among SMEs, Laboratorio Farmaceutico Erfo closed up 0.2 percent after reporting Thursday that the group's consolidated revenues as of Sept. 30 were about EUR4.7 million, up 23 percent from EUR3.8 million as of Sept. 30, 2022.

The board of Equita Group-which finished up 1.4 percent-approved Thursday the consolidated financial results as of Sept. 30, closing with consolidated net income coming in at EUR9.7 million, down 26 percent from the first nine months of 2022.

The board also saw fit to approve the distribution of a dividend of EUR0.35 per share, in line with what was distributed for fiscal year 2022.

EdiliziAcrobatica - in the red by 0.4 percent - reported Thursday that it had reported revenues of EUR118 million for the first nine months of the year, up 6.0 percent from EUR111 million in the same period a year earlier.

In New York overnight Europe, the Dow Jones gave up 0.7 percent, the S&P contracted 0.8 percent, and the Nasdaq left 0.9 percent on the parterre.

In Asia, the Nikkei is giving up 0.2 percent, the Hang Seng is giving up 1.5 percent, while the Shanghai Composite is marking minus 0.5 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0660 against USD1.0708 recorded at Thursday's European stock close, while the pound is worth USD1.2220 from USD1.2273 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD80.21 per barrel from USD80.70 per barrel at yesterday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,955.25 an ounce from USD1,962.33 an ounce last night.

Friday's macroeconomic calendar calls for Italian industrial production at 1000 CET.

At 1110 CET there will be auctions of 3- and 7-year BTPs while at 1600 CET the Michigan confidence index is expected.

In Piazza Affari, a day packed with results, including Interpump Group and Tinexta.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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