(Alliance News) - On Monday, major European stock exchanges continue trading down, following the release of construction and retail sales data for the Eurozone.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is in the red 0.9 percent to 26,712.36, the Mid-Cap gives up 1.0 percent to 44,229.77, the Small-Cap is down 0.4 percent to 29,948.17, while Italy Growth is in fractional green at 9,593.66.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 gives up 1.6 percent, London's FTSE 100 is down 0.9 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is down 1.2 percent.

In macroeconomic news, Eurozone retail sales fell 2.7 percent month-on-month in December, the largest decline since April 2021, after a 1.2 percent increase in November, showing that rising prices and interest rates are weighing on consumer spending.

In December 2022 compared to December 2021, the calendar-adjusted retail sales index fell 2.8 percent in in the euro area and 2.5 percent in the EU.

As for the construction sector, the PMI index in construction in the Eurozone rose to 46.1 in January from 42.6 in December, indicating an improvement in construction activity, which nevertheless remains below 50.0 and thus in contraction, as noted in data released Monday by S&P Global.

For Italy, the construction sector continued to contract in early 2023. Total activity and new orders in January both continued to decline, with data collected attributing this to weak demand and the current uncertainty regarding the government's superbonus scheme.

Thus, S&P Global's PMI index for the Italian construction sector-which monitors month-over-month changes in total industry output-remained below the neutral no-change threshold of 50.0 in January and for the second month in a row, standing at 48.2 from 47.0 in December.

On the Mib, Telecom Italia did better than anyone, up 2.0 percent. The company announced last week that its board of directors has decided to reconvene on February 24 to decide on the non-binding offer received from KKR for NetCo.

Intesa Sanpaolo also did well, up 1.4 percent. On Friday, the board of directors approved operating and consolidated results for the year ended Dec. 31, which closed with net interest-driven profit reaching EUR5.5 billion, excluding Russia/Ukraine de-risking. In the second half of 2022, exposure to Russia was reduced by 68 percent -- about EUR2.5 billion -- to below 0.3 percent of the group's total customer loans.

Azimut Holding is in the red by 0.8 percent. The company announced Friday that it will participate as lead investor in the EUR15.0 million capital increase of Capitual in order to support its international expansion.

On the Mid-Cap, Anima Holding gives up 0.3 percent after announcing on Monday that the group's net inflows of assets under management -- excluding Branch I insurance proxies -- in January 2023 were positive at EUR34.0 million.

At the end of January, the group's total assets under management thus stood at more than EUR182.43 billion, down from EUR201.70 billion recorded as of January 31, 2022.

Acea is up 0.2 percent after announcing Friday that it has concluded the reopening of the Green-format bond issue made on January 17, 2023 - rate 3.875 percent, maturity January 24, 2031 - in the amount of EUR200 million.

Webuild gives up 0.3 percent. On Friday it announced that it signed the contract to buy Clough, taking over EUR4 billion of backlog and securing 1,100 jobs.

On the Small-Cap, Tesselis is in the red by 1.8 percent after announcing Friday evening the resignation effective Feb. 1 of Cristiana Procopio and Alberto Trondoli as directors of the company for personal reasons.

Risanamento -- in the red by 1.4 percent -- announced Thursday that it had seen its preliminary results for 2022, whereby the company reported a net loss of EUR53.8 million from EUR24.9 million in the same period last year.

Among SMEs, ErreDue trades up 1.7 percent. It announced Friday that it had signed a contract for the construction of a 750 mc/H hyperpure nitrogen plant with a company that is "among the most important entities, nationally and internationally," active in the metallurgy sector.

The sales contract, the amount of which is about EUR900,000.

Eles is in the green by 9.4 percent after announcing Friday that the EUR6.5 million or so capital increase, to be carried out through the issuance of 3.8 million new shares at a unit price of EUR1.70, approved Thursday by the board, has been fully subscribed.

Growens rises 4.3 percent. On Friday, the board approved the signing of a binding agreement for the sale of Growens' MailUp business unit and its holdings in Contactlab Spa, Acumbamail SL, MailUp Nordics A/S and its subsidiary Globase International Aps to TeamSystem Spa for a total consideration of EUR70 million on a cash/debt free basis.

Nusco goes into volatility auction after rising more than 15 percent. The company reported Monday that consolidated pre-consolidated revenues as of Dec. 31, 2022, are approximately EUR50.8 million. The order backlog to be fulfilled as of Dec. 31, 2022 is EUR10.5 million.

Doxee still does not trade. On Friday it announced that Simest -- a CDP group company that supports the internationalization of Italian companies -- has entered the share capital of its Austrian subsidiary Doxee CEE GmbH, with a minority stake of 42 percent.

In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones closed 0.4 percent in the red at 33,926.01, the S&P gained 1.0 percent to 4,136.48, and the Nasdaq rallied 1.6 percent to 12,006.96.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0760 versus USD1.0833 at Friday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2024 from USD1.2071 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD80.81 per barrel versus USD81.14 per barrel Friday night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,885.50 an ounce from USD1,867.23 an ounce at Friday's close.

On Monday's macroeconomic calendar, a three-month Treasury bond auction is scheduled for the afternoon from the States at 1730 CET.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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