(Alliance News) - The major European stock markets are expected to rise on Thursday in the aftermath of the release of U.S. consumer confidence, well above estimates.

The U.S. stock market also posted another day of decent gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 526.74 points during regular trading on Wednesday, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 1.49 percent and 1.54 percent, respectively.

Yesterday it was mainly the energy sector that led the gains in the S&P 500 Index, and all 11 S&P 500 sectors closed in positive territory. Traders also felt much more confident in the wake of new earnings numbers from Nike and FedEx, which came in the day before yesterday and drove up their stock prices.

"Basically, the stronger-than-expected earnings numbers are giving investors reason to believe that profits are holding up pretty well despite fears of an economic slowdown," commented Naeem Aslam Chief Market Analyst at Avatrade.

The FTSE Mib, therefore, is expected up 45.0 points or 0.2 percent after closing Wednesday up 1.7 percent to 24,111.97.

London's FTSE 100 is expected to open in the green by 22.0 points or 0.3 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is expected up 10.2 points or 0.2 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is expected up 12.5 points or 0.1 percent.

"The year 2022 was not a great year for the stock market in the United States as inflation reached its highest level in 40 years and the Federal Reserve raised interest rates at the most aggressive pace in recent history," the expert added.

"However, despite all that has happened, we have seen economic indicators doing better than expected. For example, yesterday we saw U.S. consumer confidence knock down all estimates and print a reading of 108 where the forecast was 101. This is certainly a very positive sign for the U.S. stock market and has stimulated more confidence among investors and traders," Aslam concluded.

Last night, among the smaller Piazza Affari listings, the Mid-Cap rose 1.5 percent to 39,502.10, the Small-Cap gained 0.2 percent to 27,709.86, and Italy Growth finished just below par at 9,233.38.

On the Mib, the oil sector did well, with Saipem up 3.5 percent, Eni up 3.6 percent, Tenaris up 2.3 percent and, on the Mid-Cap, Saras gaining 0.2 percent.

The Six-legged Dog yesterday reported a new gas discovery in offshore Cyprus via the Zeus-1 well, drilled in Block 6, 162 km off the coast and 2,300 meters of water depth.

The block is operated by Eni Cyprus, which holds a 50 percent interest, with TotalEnergies as a partner.

Zeus-1 is the third consecutive discovery made in Block 6 after Cronos-1 and Calypso-1, confirming the promising development prospects of the area. The Zeus-1 well encountered 105 meters of net gas column in a carbonate reservoir rock. Preliminary estimates indicate gas volumes in place between about 56 and 85 billion cubic meters.

Italgas gained 2.0 percent after it reported that Depa Infrastructure, a Group company and active in natural gas distribution in Greece, on Monday completed the acquisition of the remaining 49 percent of Thessaloniki - Thessalia Gas Distribution held by Eni Plenitude.

The banking sector, which had opened mostly down, finished in the positive: BPER Banca closed up 1.1 percent, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mediobanca, FinecoBank, and UniCredit all closed between 1.6 and 1.2 percent

Azimut Holding closed in the green by 1.8 percent after signing a strategic partnership, through its Turkish subsidiary Azimut Portföy Yönetimi, with Lycian Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on the mid-market based in Istanbul.

Today, Azimut Portföy is the largest independent asset management company in Turkey with a 6 percent market share and assets under management of more than USD2 billion.

On the Mid-Cap, Brunello Cucinelli closed up 1.6 percent. Jefferies raised the target price to EUR80.00 from EUR62.00 with a 'buy' recommendation.

Maire Tecnimont gained 2.1 percent after its subsidiary Tecnimont won an EPC contract on a lump sum basis related to the construction of a petrochemical project.

The total value of the contract is approximately USD1.3 billion and covers the construction of a petrochemical plant and associated utilities and infrastructure.

Sanlorenzo is up 4.1 percent. The company announced Tuesday that it had finalized the acquisition of 100 percent of Equinoxe for a consideration of EUR2.1 million, of which about 10 percent will be paid over the next three years subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions.

Salcef Group -- up 2.9 percent -- reported that it has reached an agreement to take over the entire capital of Francesco Ventura Costruzioni Ferroviarie.

Among the small-cap companies, Avio closed on the bottom 9.6 percent down after the failure of the VV2 mission last night. About two minutes and 27 seconds into the liftoff of the Vega C launcher, the company explained in a note, an anomaly occurred shortly after the second stage - Zefiro 40 - was ignited, leading to the premature termination of the mission.

Bialetti Industrie lost 0.9 percent after as the majority shareholder of CEM-Bialetti Ev ve Mutfak E?yalar? Sanayi ve Ticaret, a Turkish-registered company dedicated to the segment of cooking tools and kitchen accessories, announced Friday that the latter had signed a preliminary agreement on Dec. 14 with Fetih Alüminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited ?irketi regarding the sale of assets of CEM Bialetti.

Somec closed at a breakeven. The company disclosed Tuesday that it has signed a binding preliminary agreement to acquire a 60 percent stake in Gino Ceolin, a company specializing in custom-made metalwork for exteriors and interiors aimed particularly at the retail, hospitality and high-end residential sectors.

On the alternative capital market of Piazza Affari, Farmacosmo gave up 2.3 percent. The company announced Tuesday that it had acquired 67 percent of the share capital of Innovation Pharma, which already owns two pharmacies, in the cities of Turin and Verbania, against the subscription of a reserved capital increase.

Websolute did not trade after arranging for the liquidation of the 80 percent-owned WS Webness. "The operation is part of the rationalization process of the organizational structure aimed at improving the Group's income performance and will allow to internalize the activities carried out by the investee generating cost optimization," the company explained in a note.

Almawave rose 0.6 percent. The company announced that it has signed a partnership in the fintech field with CBI-a company in which 400 payment service providers participate that develops digital services, including open finance services, in collaborative logic to support the financial industry and public administration.

In New York overnight Europe, the Dow closed up 1.6 percent at 33,376.48, the Nasdaq gained 1.5 percent to 10,709.37 and the S&P 500 rose 1.5 percent to 3,878.44.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed in the green by 0.5 percent to 26,507.87, the Hang Seng was in the green by 2.5 percent to 19,639.74, and the Shanghai Composite closed down by 0.5 percent to 3,054.43.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0639 against USD1.0610 at Wednesday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2110 from USD1.2104 on Wednesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD82.31 per barrel from USD81.70 per barrel on Wednesday evening. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,815.04 an ounce from USD1,816.65 an ounce on Wednesday evening.

On Thursday's macro calendar, from Italy, eyes on industrial sales at 1000 CET and the non-EU trade balance at 1200 CET.

From the U.S., focus on quarterly GDP and PCE, the Federal Reserve's preferred indicator for measuring inflation, coming at 1430 CET, while data on natural gas inventories will arrive at 1630 CET.

On the bond front, there will be auctions of four- and eight-week T-Notes at 1730 CET and five-year TIPS at 1900 CET.

Among the companies in the Square of Business, no particular events are planned.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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