(Alliance News) - On Friday, the trend in the markets is to confirm the opening results, with the major European stock markets in positive territory with the only exception of the Francorte Stock Exchange, which is holding down.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is in the green by 0.4 percent at 24,926.90, the Mid-Cap is in the green by 0.2 percent at 40,676.44, as is the Small-Cap at 28,354.70, while Italy Growth is up by 0.1 percent at 9,399.43.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 rises 0.2 percent, London's FTSE 100 gains 0.3 percent, while Frankfurt's DAX 40 is down 0.1 percent.

In macroeconomic news, it is reported from the Eurozone that inflation cooled more than expected in the last month of last year, falling below double digits after two months.

Looking at the main components of inflation in the eurozone, energy recorded the highest annual rate in December at 26 percent compared to 35 percent in November, followed by food, alcohol and tobacco at 13.8 percent compared to 13.6 percent in November, non-energy industrial goods at 6.4 percent from 6.1 percent in November, and services at 4.4 percent compared to 4.2 percent in November.

Still, Eurozone retail sales returned to growth on a monthly basis in November but fell further on an annual basis. As Eurostat explains, non-food retail sales rose 1.6 percent on a monthly basis in November and fell 2.3 percent on a year-over-year basis; auto fuels rose 1.0 percent on the month before and 4.4 percent on the year; and sales fell 0.9 percent for food, alcohol and tobacco on a monthly basis and fell 4.6 percent on a year-over-year basis.

As for economic sentiment, in December, the Economic Sentiment Indicator rose for the second month in both the EU, by 1.5 points to 94.2, and the euro area, by 1.8 points to 95.8, but remained below the long-term average.

The employment expectations indicator remained broadly stable, well above the long-term average, falling only 0.4 points to 105.9 in the EU and remaining unchanged at 107.3 in the euro area.

In Milan, on the main list of Piazza Affari, Stellantis is down 0.6 percent. The company reaffirmed its commitment to grow its data and connected services offering by launching Mobilisights, a new independent business unit.

Its new offering, Mobilisights, is designed to grow the company's data as a service business and develop and license business-to-business products, applications and services.

The new unit will leverage Stellantis' connected vehicle data, which is expected to reach 34 million by 2030.

Hera rises 1.2 percent after announcing Thursday EUR150 million in district heating investments from 2023-2026.

Of these, three Hera Group projects dedicated to district heating -- in Bologna, Ferrara, and Forlì -- have been awarded funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, "Green Revolution and Ecological Transition" mission, totaling nearly EUR50 million.

Terna is in the green by 0.5 percent after signing an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the capital of Edyna Transmission, an Alperia Group company dedicated to the transmission sector, which owns 34 km of high-voltage power lines and two power stations in South Tyrol.

The assets are already part of the national electricity transmission grid and were taken over by Terna for a total value of about EUR14 million. The deal is subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions precedent.

Moncler, on the other hand, falls 0.5 percent, with Bernstein raising the targer price to EUR60.00 from EUR54.00.

On the Mid-Cap, PharmaNutra is down 1.3 percent. The company announced the signing of three new international commercial agreements for the distribution of products from the SiderAL and Cetilar lines in the Indonesian Republic, Kuwait, and Mexico.

With the signing of these new contracts, PharmaNutra Group currently has 47 distributors in 70 countries across Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Taking the top spot is Carel Industries, up 1.8 percent. The company on Wednesday made it known that it no longer qualifies as an "SME," Small and Medium Enterprise.

Same fate for GVS, however, which sits at the tail end of the list and gives up 1.8 percent.

On the Small-Cap, Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi Di Bologna is flat after making it known that in 2022 air traffic performance has been gradually improving, starting in the spring, with the end of the emergency phase and travel restrictions.

Specifically, at the Airport, monthly passenger figures went from minus 51 percent in January 2022 over January 2019 to plus 2.4 percent in June 2022 over June 2019, with figures rising throughout the summer season, then falling back in the last two months of the year.

Cellularline - up 1.0 percent - reported Thursday that the average monthly price of its common shares for the month of December 2022, was EUR2.9878.

Given that the average monthly price of Cellularline's common shares is below the strike price of EUR9.50, the warrants are not exercisable during January 2023.

Civitanavi Systems is up 0.9 percent. The company announced that it has signed a ruling agreement with the Internal Revenue Service that will allow the company to have access to the Patent Box tax benefit for intellectual property for patents and know-how.

The tax benefit for the five-year period 2017-2021 will be accounted for in the fiscal year 2022 and the quantification will take place when preparing the financial statements.

Among SMEs, Clabo rises 4.7 percent after gaining 22 percent at the close on Thursday and after letting it be known on Wednesday that U.S. subsidiary Howard McCray has concluded two commercial agreements worth a total of USD750,000, or EUR710,000, with 2 retail chains operating within the HoReCa channel.

Circle rises 1.3 percent. On Monday, the company announced that it has signed a new contract through the Log@Sea business network to supply advanced Gate Automation solutions to a leading Tyrrhenian multipurpose terminal.

Bifire does not trade after reporting Thursday that it purchased 17,500 of its own ordinary shares between Jan. 2 and Jan. 5.

The shares were taken over at an average price per unit of EUR2.6234, for a total countervalue of just over EUR45,909.90.

In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones closed 1.0 percent in the red at 32,930.08, the S&P gave up 1.2 percent to 3,808.10, and the Nasdaq left 1.5 percent at 10,305.24 on the parterre.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0514 versus USD1.0525 at Thursday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.1857 from USD1.1897 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD79.19 a barrel from USD78.14 a barrel last night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,841.60 an ounce from USD1,826.70 an ounce Thursday night.

Friday's macro calendar includes, from the US, a focus on December nonfarm payrolls, coming in at 1430 CET, the same time as the unemployment rate. At 1600 CET, it will be the turn of factory orders and durable goods data. At 1900 CET, close the day with Baker Hughes drilling rig data.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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