(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari was unaffected by Jerome Powell's words and the Meloni-Lagarde querelle and closed Wednesday's session higher, in line with the performance of other major European stock exchanges.

The Federal Reserve chairman said the most likely outcome is for the U.S. to avoid a recession, although as monetary policy tightens, the risks between limited and excessive tightening "may become more balanced."

Speaking at a European Central Bank forum in Sintra, Portugal, Powell noted that U.S. labor market conditions are "softening," albeit at a slower pace than expected. However, the Fed chairman said the U.S. economy has been "quite resilient."

There is a "significant probability" of a recession, although Powell said this is not the most likely outcome for the U.S. economy.

On the Italian front, however, Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, criticized the European Central Bank's raising of interest rates to combat inflation, warning that "the cure risks proving more harmful than the disease."

"The ECB's simplistic recipe of raising interest rates does not seem to many to be the right way forward," she said in a speech to Parliament ahead of an EU summit later this week.

"In our countries, the general rise in prices is not due to an economy that is growing too fast," he said, but to other factors, "primarily the energy crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine."

The FTSE Mib closed up 0.9 percent to 27,637.46, the Mid-Cap gained 0.9 percent to 42,320.05, the Small-Cap rose 0.3 percent to 26,711.72, and Italy Growth finished up 0.2 percent to 9,033.79.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.6 percent, Paris' CAC 40 gained 1.0 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 closed up 0.7 percent.

On the highest-capitalization list in Piazza Affari, Iveco Group lost 0.5 percent after Francesco Tanzi made it known that he will leave his role as the company's chief financial officer and take a new position in another industry sector by the end of the third quarter of this year.

The search process to identify the person who will succeed Tanzi has already begun, Iveco explains, with the prospect of filling the position by the end of this interim period.

Eni rose 0.4 percent after reporting that Eni Sustainable Mobility and PBF Energy announced the closing of their 50/50 joint venture, St. Bernard Renewables, for a biorefinery that is already operational in PBF's Chalmette, Louisiana, U.S. refinery area.

PBF contributed the assets of the SBR biorefinery, while Eni Sustainable Mobility committed to a capital contribution of USD835 million of which USD431 million was paid at closing.

In addition, Eni disclosed that it purchased 6.9 million of its own shares between June 19 and June 23. The shares were taken over at an average unit price of EUR12.9123, for a total consideration of EUR89.7 million.

Best performer on the list was Telecom Italia, which closed up 3.5 percent, with 148.1 million shares traded.

On the Mid-Cap, Credito Emiliano rose 2.9 percent after Jefferies upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'hold,' with a target price of EUR8.90.

Controlling Credemtel, meanwhile, signed an agreement with Relatech -- up 0.4 percent among SMEs -- to manage cybersecurity services for its own and the banking group's customers through ReSOC, the proprietary cybersecurity services and solutions asset of the Relatech ecosystem.

The partnership agreement is the result in a long selection process that Credemtel started about two years ago aimed at identifying and selecting the best partner with high know-how and expertise in cybersecurity that could integrate with Credemtel's cyber expertise.

Maire Tecnimont gained 2.5 percent. The company appointed independent nonexecutive director Isabella Maria Nova as a new member of the compensation committee. In addition, Maire's board appointed independent nonexecutive director Cristina Finocchi Mahne as a new lead independent director, effective today.

Among small-cap companies, Conafi rose 1.6 percent after the board reported that it renewed the appointment of Nunzio Chiolo as managing director and investor relator. The board also gave some nonexecutive powers to chairman Raffaele Borriello.

Mittel closed up 7.6 percent after finalizing the sale of its entire 60 percent majority stake in the share capital of Zaffiro Group for a consideration of EUR42 million.

The transaction was finalized through sale to Sarafin Spa and funds named "Eurizon Iter" as well as "Eurizon Iter Eltif" managed by Eurizon Capital SGR.

The sale transaction will result for Mittel in the recognition on the separate financial statements of a gross capital gain of EUR28.5 million and the recognition on the consolidated financial statements of a positive income impact attributable to the group that can be estimated at around EUR45.6 million.

Mondo TV flew with 14 percent. The shareholders' meeting of Squirrel Media gave the go-ahead for the acquisition of Mondo TV's entire stake in Mondo TV Studios, amounting to about 75 percent.

As a result of this transaction, Mondo TV becomes a minority shareholder in the Spanish group when the deal is finalized in July. The valuation taken into account to calculate the exchange price was EUR0.31 per Mondo TV Studios share and EUR3.20 per Squirrel share.

In addition, Mondo TV Suisse will be merged with Mondo TV France as part of a reorganization of the TV group. Shares of the former gained 1.1 percent while those of the latter rose 1.7 percent on Italy Growth.

Also among SMEs, BFC Media did not trade. On Tuesday evening the CEO, Marco Forlani, resigned for unforeseen personal reasons, resigning all the proxies assigned to him.

The resignation takes effect at midnight on July 10, 2023, and follows his resignation from the board of directors of L'Espresso Media, which was communicated to the company in recent weeks.

Italia Independent Group slumped 7.7 percent after it reported that it closed 2022 with a net loss of EUR9.7 million, down from a net loss of EUR11.3 million a year earlier.

Revenues fell 36 percent to EUR3.6 million from EUR5.5 million a year earlier while gross margin, at EUR2.2 million, increased significantly compared to the previous year, "as the latter period was affected by the write-down of costs related to advertising space to be used for the communication of the group's products -- bartering activities --, which in compliance with accounting rules, had been charged as a direct reduction of the revenues to which they are related," the company explained.

In New York, the Dow is down 0.5 percent to 33,769.36, the Nasdaq rises 0.4 percent to 13,614.12 and the S&P 500 gives up 0.1 percent to 4,375.25.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0902 versus USD1.0955 at Tuesday's European equities close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2613 from USD1.2745 on Tuesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD73.03 per barrel versus USD73.28 per barrel at Tuesday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,909.22 an ounce from USD1,915.12 an ounce Tuesday evening.

Thursday's macroeconomic calendar features Japan's retail sales data at 0150 CEST and household confidence data at 0700 CEST, before moving to Europe where German inflation is expected at 0730 CEST, an hour and a half before Spgna's consumer and producer price indexes.

At 1000 CEST, eyes on the European Central Bank's monthly report, coming half an hour before UK consumer credit data. For the Eurozone, eyes on household and business confidence data, coming at 1100 CEST.

In the afternoon, at 1300 CEST, Spanish business confidence data will be released. In the US, meanwhile, focus on jobless claims and Gross Domestic Product, due at 1430 CEST, and gas inventories, expected at 1630 CEST.

Among the companies in Piazza Affari, I Grandi Viaggi's half-yearly report is expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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