Mib bullish; focus on U.S. debt

(Alliance News) - European stock markets-according to the futures market-are expected to open mixed on Monday as talks on raising the U.S. debt ceiling continue.

New York closed lower Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.3 percent, the S&P 500 down 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.2 percent.

U.S. President Joe Biden will meet Monday with House Speaker -- Republican Kevin McCarthy -- for another round of talks on raising the U.S. debt ceiling less than two weeks before the key deadline to avoid a disastrous default, officials said.

Anxiety is clearly growing in Washington ahead of the June 1 deadline set by the U.S. Treasury for Congress to authorize additional borrowing, as the two sides appear nowhere near a compromise. Speaking at a press conference before leaving to return to Washington from the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden said the Republicans' latest demands for spending cuts as a condition for increasing the U.S. government's borrowing level are "frankly unacceptable."

Thus, the FTSE Mib marks a bullish path of 50.00 points, following the 1.0 percent green at 27,520.33 on Friday evening.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is expected to be at parity, the CAC 40 down 8.00 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is also moving just below parity.

Among the smaller listings on Friday evening, the Mid-Cap closed up 0.8 percent to 43,458.27, the Small-Cap up 0.2 percent to 27,994.63, and Italy Growth closed up 0.3 percent to 9,131.54.

On the Mib, Interpump Group ends up 4.4 percent after announcing Thursday evening the acquisition of 100 percent of the capital of Waikato Group. The transaction price was set at around EUR30 million.

Terna - in the green by 1.5 percent - reported Friday that electricity demand in April was 23.4 billion kWh, a 4.3 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2022.

Saipem closes up 1.6 percent after announcing Thursday that it has been awarded two new offshore contracts, one for an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation project in the Black Sea and one for decommissioning activities in the North Sea. The total value of the contracts is about USD850 million.

Other oils also did well, with Eni picking up 0.8 percent and Tenaris rising 0.6 percent.

Banca BPER - following up on its agreements with AMCO - announced that it has concluded a transaction for the sale, for consideration, without recourse and en bloc, of a portfolio of Unlikely to Pay impaired loans of BPER Banca and its subsidiary Banco di Sardegna, to AMCO. The value is approximately EUR430 million. The stock closed up 0.2 percent.

On the cadet segment, Autogrill closed on top with 3.2 percent. Dufry announced that it holds about 87% of the company's shares after the conclusion of the May 18 takeover bid.

Fincantieri -- up 1.8 percent -- on Friday reported that the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Fincantieri's U.S. subsidiary, Marinette Marine (FMM), the contract to build the fourth "Constellation" class frigate, which is worth about USD526 million, for the U.S. Navy.

Juventus FC closes 0.6 percent in the red with the Turin team also saying goodbye to the Europa League after suffering a defeat at the hands of Sevilla.

On the Small-Cap, SIT-which closes 5.1 percent in the red and ranks at the bottom-approved Thursday its results as of March 31, 2023 reporting consolidated revenues of EUR83.6 million down 11 percent from EUR93.8 million in the first quarter of 2022.

On the other side of the list are CIA, up 5.8 percent, and Restart gaining 4.4 percent.

Among SMEs, Neosperience climbs 29% after announcing Friday that the extraordinary shareholders' meeting of Neosperience Health Spa, a 90% subsidiary of NSP, yesterday approved a capital increase aimed at listing on the U.S. capital market.

Doing better was only Prisms, which closed in the green by 50 percent. On Wednesday evening the company announced that its board of directors had accepted a binding proposal for investment in the company received from Medigest SA, Area 62 Srl and Tendercapital Alternative Funds PLC.

Specifically, the investors have committed to underwrite and release in cash two tranches of a capital increase in the company reserved for them for a total consideration of EUR700,000.

Still doing well is Italia Independent, which leads the way with nearly 20 percent. The stock is in its 17th straight session on the bullish side. In the past month, the stock has appreciated by more than 350 percent. It is worth mentioning that ten days ago, the Ivrea court handed down the judgments approving the restructuring agreements reached with its creditors by the company and its subsidiary Italia Independent. In addition, the court extended the effects of the restructuring agreements to non-party claims. In the reasons for the positive outcome, the judgments expressly pointed out that the group's path of reorganization initiated in June 2022 was only possible for both companies thanks to the contribution of external finance from the major shareholder, Lapo Elkann, in the amount of EUR12.8 million.

Digital360 follows with an 11 percent rise after announcing Friday that the founding shareholders have signed a binding investment agreement with private equity fund Three Hills Capital Partners, through TH Alessandro Srl, to promote a mandatory tender offer for the company's ordinary shares aimed at delisting.

OSAI Automation System gives up 2.9 percent. On Thursday evening it announced that it had acquired an order worth EUR3.7 million from a leading multinational group operating in the electric mobility sector

Health Italia - in the green by 0.3% - reported Thursday that first quarter revenues rose slightly to EUR8.7 million from EUR8.6 million in the same period a year earlier.

High Quality Food--which ends up 1.9 percent--reported Wednesday that its board had voted to increase its share capital.

In detail, a EUR533,600 increase is reserved for Francesco Paltoni, who will hold 46 percent of HQF Agricola after the issuance of 456,068 new HQF shares at EUR1.17 each; another EUR3.0 million aucap is reserved for institutional investors and strategic partners, who will receive 2.7 million shares in the company at a unit price of EUR1.11.

Among the Asian exchanges, the Hang Seng is rising 1.4 percent, the Shanghai Composite is picking up 0.3 percent, and the Nikkei is posting a green of 0.9 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0812 versus USD1.0815 at Friday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2430 from USD1.2433 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD74.56 per barrel versus USD75.78 per barrel Friday night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,972.00 an ounce from USD1,983.17 Friday night.

Monday's macroeconomic calendar, includes at 1100 CEST the Eurozone's March construction output data while French BTF auctions are scheduled for the afternoon at 1500 CEST.

In Piazza Affari, the quarterly results of Eles, GEL and Prismi are expected, along with the annuals of Agatos.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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