(Alliance News) - Following Wednesday morning's macro data binge and awaiting the Federal Reserve's decision this evening, traders are pouring money into European stock markets, which accelerate slightly to the upside mid-session.

Italian inflation remains in double digits year-on-year in January but softened considerably from the previous month, Istat reported Wednesday morning.

Italy's consumer prices rose 10.1 percent year-on-year in January after rising 11.6 percent in December, coming in line with market estimates.

In the eurozone, meanwhile, eurozone consumer prices rose 8.5 percent year-on-year in January after rising 9.2 percent in December, doing even better than market expectations of a slowdown to 9.0 percent. Unemployment, on the other hand, remained at 6.6 percent, unchanged in December from November.

Turning to PMIs, the January Eurozone manufacturing PMI index rose for the third consecutive month and reached 48.8, up from 47.8 in December.

Although still below the 50.0 threshold, and thus indicative of a deteriorating health of the eurozone's manufacturing sector, it represents the highest value since last August. The figure is impacted by Germany, still down in January, while Italy, France and Spain do well.

In Milan, the FTSE Mib rises 0.6 percent to 26,745.57, the Mid-Cap gains 1.5 percent to 43,931.01, the Small-Cap is up 0.5 percent to 29,711.05, and Italy Growth is tied at 9,513.41.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is up 0.1 percent to 7,781.46, Paris' CAC 40 is just below par at 7,079.29, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is up slightly to 15,131.87.

UniCredit, after rising 12 percent at the close Tuesday, continues to grind out gains, rising 2.1 percent by mid-session. The bank yesterday announced a profit for the year 2022 excluding Russia at EUR5.4 billion from EUR3.3 billion in the previous year, "the best result in more than a decade," as pointed out by CEO, Andrea Orcel.

All banks did well on Fed day, with BPER up 3.4 percent and best performer on the list and Intesa Sanpaolo following with a 1.8 percent increase.

Weak, on the other hand, was Terna--down 0.1%--which announced Tuesday that the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security has started the authorization process for the project to rationalize the high-voltage power grid in the West Brianza area, for which the company will invest a total of more than EUR100 million.

Today, the company announced that the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security has started the authorization procedure for the construction of the Adriatic Link, the new submarine direct current power line, which will connect Abruzzo and Marche, for which Terna will invest more than EUR1 billion involving about 120 companies between direct and induced.

The work will increase the exchange capacity between the central-south and central-north areas of the country by about 1,000 MW, increasing the safety, efficiency and resilience of the entire national electricity transmission grid.

On the Mid-Cap, doValue gains 0.8 percent after announcing Wednesday that the senior Class A securities of the securitization carried out through the special purpose vehicle Fino 1 Securitization Srl have been repaid.

This was possible "due to the excellent recovery performance of the loans underlying the securitization realized through Fino 1 Securitization, under which the GACS guarantee was granted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance," the company explained.

Webuild rises 2.8 percent. The company announced Monday that it has been awarded the execution of works for the doubling and modernization of Lot 1 of the Ragusa-Catania highway, worth EUR208 million.

Juventus Football Club - up 3.6 percent - announced Monday that it had reached an agreement with Leeds United Football Club for the sale, on a temporary basis until June 30, 2023, of the rights to the sports performance of footballer Weston McKennie for a consideration of EUR1.25 million, plus bonuses of up to EUR250,000 upon the occurrence of certain sporting goals.

On the Small-Cap, Seri Industrial is up 1.7 percent after announcing Tuesday that the board of directors authorized the signing of new lease agreements with related party Pmimmobiliare by subsidiaries FIB and Seri Plast and with Azienda Agricola Quercete by the company.

Somec gains 3.9 percent after announcing on Wednesday that it has been awarded ramite its U.S. subsidiary Fabbrica a new contract for the construction of a commercial building in Boston, Massachusetts.

Fabbrica will oversee the design and engineering of more than 22,000 square meters of curtain walls with a total value of about USD32 million.

Among SMEs, ReeVo -- up 4.4 percent -- announced Wednesday that with the Temporary Grouping of Companies in which it participates together with IBM Italy, through the ITALIT business network, it has signed the framework contract for the provision of cloud application services and demand and PMO services, for central public administrations.

The agreement has a total value for the RTI of EUR600 million and a duration of 24 months, Of this amount a minimum of about EUR20 million is directly referable to ReeVo.

Esautomotion gives up 2.0% after announcing Tuesday that group revenues as of December 31, 2022 were EUR34.0 million, up 19% from 2021 when they were EUR28.6 million.

Digital Value gives up 0.3 percent after reporting Tuesday that it ended 2022 with revenues of EUR706.9 million, up 18 percent or EUR109.4 million from the previous year.

The figure was 1.4 percent above the market consensus of EUR697.2 million "and confirms the country's strong focus on investments in digitization and ICT infrastructure efficiency," the company explained.

NVP - up 3.9 percent - said Wednesday that it had seen preliminary figures for 2022 and reported consolidated revenues for the period of EUR17.4 million, up 30 percent from 2021 when they amounted to EUR13.4 million.

Consolidated revenues for Italy were about EUR16.2 million, up 46 percent from EUR11.1 million in 2021; overseas revenues were worth EUR1.2 million, down from 2021 when they were EUR2.3 million.

In New York, the Dow closed last night up 1.1 percent to 34,086.04, the Nasdaq took home a 1.7 percent increase to 11,584.55 while the S&P 500 gained 1.5 percent to 4,076.60.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0887 versus USD1.0861 at Tuesday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2316 from USD1.2318 on Tuesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD85.34 per barrel versus USD85.31 per barrel Tuesday evening. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,925.60 an ounce from USD1,904.40 an ounce last session.

On Wednesday's macroeconomic calendar, at 1300 CET, the weekly U.S. mortgage data is expected.

Also overseas, at 1545 CET, the U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers' index is scheduled, and 15 minutes later it is the turn of the ISM manufacturing employment index, building construction spending data, and new jobs JOLTs.

At 1630 CET it is the turn of crude oil stocks.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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