(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari veers lower during the second half of Friday's session and closes the session down, in line with the performance of other European stock markets.

Craig Erlam of Oanda said, "It has been another difficult week for European stock markets, which are set to end in the red once again due to concerns about the economy. Investors have been worried about the Eurozone economy for some time, and it would appear that the European Central Bank shares these concerns. While this may spare the bloc the added pressure of higher rates in the medium term, for now the threat of recession is real and is weighing on equity markets in the region."

"This week, we did not receive much improvement from the results season, which was rather mixed and not particularly well received. Of course, technology is again the exception, with the Nasdaq posting gains close to 1 percent while most other indexes are in the red, buoyed by Amazon's results."

The FTSE Mib closed down 0.8 percent to 27,287.45, the Mid-Cap gained 0.1 percent to 37,609.40, the Small-Cap finished tied at 23,996.93 while Italy Growth gave up 0.3 percent to 7,593.51.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 lost 0.8 percent, Paris' CAC 40 fell 1.2 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 gave up 0.1 percent.

On the main list in Piazza Affari, Eni closed up 0.2 percent after reporting Friday morning that its board of directors approved consolidated results for the third quarter and nine months, reporting a sharp decline in earnings but announcing an upward revision of estimates for Ebit and cash flow for the full year, along with an acceleration of its buyback program.

Campari gave up 1.4 percent after sharing results for the first nine months of the year, with group profit for the nine months to September 30 of EUR473.8 million, down 2.0 percent from the same period a year earlier when it was EUR483.3 million.

Net sales were EUR2.20 billion, up 9.8 percent from EUR2.00 billion in the same period of 2022.

Saipem gained 3.9 percent and takes the top spot. The company reported Wednesday that in the first nine months of the year it reported revenues of EUR8.36 billion, up 19 percent from EUR7.03 billion in the same period a year earlier.

As of September 30, adjusted Ebitda stood at EUR640 million, up 44% from EUR445 million in 2022.

Pirelli & C lost 1.0 percent after announcing Thursday that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Pirelli Tyre of the Pirelli Group, a global leader in tire production, have signed a joint venture agreement to build a tire factory in Saudi Arabia.

PIF will hold a 75 percent stake in the JV, while Pirelli will have the remaining 25 percent and will be a strategic and technology partner to support the development of the project, providing technical and commercial assistance.

STMicroelectronics closed 3.7 percent in the red after closing up 5.0 percent on Thursday when it announced that it ended the third quarter of the year with net revenues at USD4.43 billion, up 2.4 percent from the previous quarter and 2.5 percent from the same period in 2022, when they were USD4.32 billion.

Quarterly net income is USD1.09 billion down slightly by 0.8 percent with USD1.10 billion in the same period 2022.

Stellantis - down 2.0% - and Leapmotor announced Thursday that Stellantis plans to invest about EUR1.5 billion to acquire approximately 20% of Leapmotor, in which Stellantis will become a major shareholder. The deal also includes the establishment of Leapmotor International, a 51-49-share joint venture led by Stellantis, with exclusive rights to export and sell as well as manufacture Leapmotor products outside the Chinese region.

UniCredit closed up 1.1 percent. On Thursday, the bank received approval from the European Central Bank to execute a tranche of its share buyback program for up to EUR2.5 billion.

FinecoBank gained 1.5 percent, with S&P Global confirming its long-term 'BBB' rating with stable outlook, while maintaining its short-term 'A-2' rating.

Intesa Sanpaolo finished up 0.3 percent after it reported Wednesday evening that the extraordinary tax calculated on the increase in net interest income amounts to about EUR828 million for the group and about EUR797 million for the parent company.

The board of directors resolved that it will propose to the shareholders' meeting, when approving the annual financial statements, that an amount of about EUR1.99 billion, corresponding to 2.5 times the amount of the tax of about EUR797 million, be allocated to non-distributable reserves.

On the Mid-Cap, Fincantieri rises 0.7 percent. This week, the company signed with the Consortium coordinated by Naviris and bringing together the company, France's Naval Group the Spain's Navantia and other components from Greece, Denmark and Norway, all contract documents related to the Modular and Multirole Patrol Corvette for the implementation of the first phase of the European Patrol Corvette project.

The total value of this first phase is EUR87 million and is strongly supported by the European Commission through the European Defense Fund.

Maire Tecnimont gives up 1.0 percent after reporting revenues of EUR3.08 billion for the first nine months of the year, up 23 percent from EUR2.51 billion in the same period last year.

As of Sept. 30, net income amounted to EUR88.6 million from EUR61.4 million a year earlier and up 44%

On the Small-Cap, Seri Industrial closed 3.8 percent in the red after reporting Thursday evening that the board of directors had reviewed some data for the first nine months of the year, which closed with revenues at EUR127.3 million, down 10 percent from EUR140.7 million in the same period in 2022.

Elica gained 1.7 percent. In the first nine months of the year, the company reported normalized net income of EUR11.7 million from EUR17.1 million in the same period of the previous year, down 32 percent.

As of Sept. 30, revenues amounted to EUR360.1 million from EUR419.0 in 2022 and down 14 percent.

Edison saw its savings shares rise 2.1 percent after reporting Friday that it ended the first nine months with revenues down to EUR14.10 billion from EUR22.84 billion in the same period a year earlier.

In contrast, Ebitda rose to EUR1.27 billion from EUR938 million a year earlier and Ebit improved to EUR763 million from EUR495 million. Net income from continuing operations increased to EUR544 million from EUR314 million while group net income rose to EUR486 million from EUR265 million a year earlier.

"Based on the results of the first nine months, albeit in a market environment that remains characterized by high economic and geopolitical uncertainty as well as persistent price volatility, the group revises its estimates for Ebitda growth from EUR1.6 billion to at least EUR1.8 billion as of Dec. 31, 2023 from EUR1.1 billion in 2022," the company said.

Among SMEs, Pharmacosmo gave up 1.4 percent after reporting Thursday night that it had EUR52.5 million in revenues for the first nine months of the year, up 14 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Allcore -- up 3.1 percent -- reported Thursday evening that it closed the first nine months of the year with consolidated group revenues of EUR30.1 million, up from EUR26.0 million compared to the same period 2022

Convergences gained 6.8 percent after reporting Thursday that it closed the first nine months with revenues of about EUR16.5 million compared to EUR22.6 million in the same period of 2022

In New York, the Dow is down 0.2% to 32,708.95, the Nasdaq rises 0.9% to 12,714.41 and the S&P 500 gains 0.2% to 4,144.72.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0579 against USD1.0542 recorded at Thursday's European stock close while the pound is worth USD1.2144 from USD1.2127 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD88.42 per barrel from USD88.98 per barrel at yesterday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,981.79 an ounce from USD1,979.31 an ounce last night.

Monday's economic calendar features German inflation at 0830 CEST, followed by Spain's consumer and manufacturing inflation at 1000 CEST.

Eurozone consumer confidence will come at 1100 CEST, an hour after Germany's Gross Domestic Product data.

In the afternoon, three- and six-month T-Note auctions will be held in the US, at 1730 CEST.

Among companies in the Piazza Affari, eyes will be on the results of Amplifon, Franchi Umberto Marmi, GEL, Lottomatica, Piaggio & C. and Technogym.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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