(Alliance News) - Europe's major stock markets closed higher on Friday as fears of a recession in the U.S. grew in tandem with announcements of layoffs by big tech firms. The latest to break the news was Google, with Alphabet set to cut 12,000 jobs globally.

"Pre-earnings layoffs seem to be all the rage in the U.S. and have been welcomed by markets eager to see signs of cost cutting among companies. But it's a tough road ahead," commented Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG.

"A wave (or waves) of layoffs will hurt consumer confidence and spending, coming at a time when inflation and higher rates have already hit consumer wallets and raising the possibility of a more severe recession," he concluded.

The FTSE Mib, therefore, closes in the green by 0.7 percent at 25,775.52.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 finishes up 0.3 percent, Paris' CAC 40 picks up 0.6 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is up 0.7 percent.

Among Italy's smaller lists, the Mid-Cap rallied 1.3 percent to 42,797.31, the Small-Cap closed up 0.7 percent to 29,602.71, and Italy Growth finished in the green 0.2 percent to 9,545.89.

Bullish stocks prevailed on the main list of Piazza Affari and Saipem led the way, up 8.6 percent, after announcing Friday that it had been awarded two offshore contracts totaling about USD900 million.

Assicurazioni Generali closes up 2.3 percent after announcing Thursday evening that it will initiate the buyback of treasury shares to be used for the execution of the group's long-term incentive plan called "LTI Plan 2022-2024" approved by the shareholders' meeting in April.

The buyback transaction was authorized by the shareholders' meeting and is for the purchase of a maximum number of treasury shares of 10.5 million.

Also doing well was UniCredit, which finished in the green by 2.3 percent. The stock was given a recommendation by Jefferies, which raised its target price to EUR21.00 from EUR19.00 with a 'buy' recommendation, and by Oddo BHF, which raised its target price to EUR16.30 from EUR15.30 with a 'neutral' rating.

At the bottom are Amplifon, down 2.7 percent, Intesa Sanpaolo, down 1.9 percent, and A2A, down 1.8 percent.

On the Mid-Cap, Juventus picks up 0.4 percent despite the announcement by the prosecutor's office of the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio that it has requested a nine-point penalty following the investigation into the club's fictitious capital gains.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport reported Friday, given the seriousness of the facts alleged and the impact it has had from a sporting point of view on the championships, the prosecutor's request is for a truly afflictive penalty that would keep Juventus out of Europe.

Credem closes up 4.6 percent after Jefferies and Deutsche Bank Research raised the target price to EUR7.60 from EUR7.40 and to EUR9.30 from EUR6.90, respectively. In addition, DB also upgraded Credem to 'buy' from 'hold'.

Banca Popolare di Sondrio ends up 1.4 percent. Jefferies also raised the target price on this stock, this time to EUR5.20 from EUR5.00 with a 'buy' recommendation.

Industrie De Nora is among the best on the list, picking up 3.9 percent. Marble Bar Asset Management on Thursday cut its short on the stock to 0.75 percent from 0.97 percent.

On top, however, is GVS, which closes up 5.8 percent followed by Piaggio, in the green by 4.9 percent.

On the smallcap list, at the top are algoWatt, Enervit and The Italian Sea Group, up 7.6 percent, 5.7 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.

Newlat Food closed at a parity. On Thursday, it reported preliminary consolidated revenues for 2022 of EUR730 million, up 17% organic year-on-year from EUR625 million reported at the end of fiscal year 2021 and up 128% from fiscal year 2019 when revenues were EUR320 million, the year of listing in the STAR segment of the Italian Stock Exchange.

SIT closes in the green by 2.9 percent after announcing Friday that sales realized in 2022 amounted to EUR387.6 million up 3.3 percent from EUR375.2 million in 2021.

For the Heating division, realized sales in the year ending Dec. 31, 2022 are EUR315 million, up 5.6 percent from EUR298.2 million in 2021, while for the Metering division in 2022 sales are EUR72.6 million, down 5.7 percent from EUR77.0 million in 2021.

Among SMEs, SCK Group announced on Thursday that through Sciuker Frames - in the red by 0.9 percent - it has formed the first Made in Italy design window and sunscreen cluster, "SCK Force Srl," a wholly owned subsidiary of Sciuker Frames, has been established.

The newly established company is assigned the task of centralizing all sales and marketing activities of the new and ambitious project of SCK Window Stores.

Racing Force--down 0.4 percent--reported Friday that Nehoc Systems sold 4,210 shares in the company.

The shares were sold at an average price of EUR5.3502 for a consideration of EUR22,524.34.

Mondo TV Suisse - down 1.8 percent - announced Friday that Balocco, a leading Italian company in its sector based in Fossano, in the province of Cuneo, has acquired from the same Mondo TV Suisse a license for the territory in Italy, San Marino and the Vatican, Canton Ticino and Malta for the exploitation of licensing and merchandising rights of the property Bread Barber Shop - in Italy the series is aired under the title 'Il Barbiere Pasticciere' - for confectionery products.

At the top is Illa, closing in the green by 25 percent, followed by Alfonsino, up 12 percent.

In New York, at the height of trading, the Dow is up 0.3 percent to 33,141.70, the Nasdaq is in the green 1.4 percent to 11,003.25 and the S&P 500 picks up 0.9 percent to 3,932.10.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0836 versus USD1.0801 at Thursday's close. By contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2375 from USD1.2359 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD86.80 a barrel from USD85.90 a barrel last night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,925.38 an ounce from USD1,921.63 an ounce last session.

On Monday's economic calendar, no events are scheduled from China and Hong Kong, both closed for Chinese New Year.

At 0050 CET, in Japan, the minutes of the monetary policy meeting will be released.

At 1500 CET, in France, there will be the BTF auction while at 1600 CET the eurozone consumer confidence index is expected.

At 1845 CET, ECB President Christine Lagarde will give a speech.

Among companies listed on the Stock Exchange, the results of Compagnia dei Caraibi are expected.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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