(Alliance News) - Europe's major stock markets are meeting forecasts and opening higher on Thursday in anticipation of the U.S. producer price index due this afternoon and with recent macroeconomic data appearing to have pushed back the possibility of a recession, according to Ipek Ozkardeskaya, Senior Analyst at Swissquote Bank.

"U.S. employment data remain solid, inflation continues to fall but the downward trend shows signs of slowing. And yesterday's U.S. retail sales data was icing on the cake, with a jaw-dropping 3 percent increase in retail sales last month; it was the biggest jump in two years."

"On the manufacturing side, the news is almost as good. Industrial production was unchanged, mainly because the warm weather caused a 10 percent drop in utilities. Beyond that, manufacturing output increased by 1 percent and mining output increased by 2 percent. These numbers are clearly not the kind of numbers you would expect to see for an economy that is marching toward a recession, but clearly not what we expected to see," the analyst concluded.

Thus, the FTSE Mib, opens up 0.5 percent to 27,658.70.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is up 0.9 percent, London's FTSE 100 is in the green by 0.2 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is up 0.6 percent.

Among the smaller lists, the Mid-Cap is in the red 0.1 percent to 44,751.69, while the Small-Cap is in the green 0.2 percent to 30,399.86 and Italy Growth is up 0.1 percent to 9,676.79.

On the main list of Piazza Affari, Tenaris takes the top spot with a 7.3 percent rise after announcing record results for 2022 on Wednesday evening. As of Dec. 31, 2022, Tenaris reported last quarter net sales of USD3.62 billion, up 76 percent from USD2.06 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Growing by triple digits, meanwhile, was net income, which rose to USD803 million in the last quarter of the year, 139% higher than the same period in 2021.

Net income for the 12 months amounted to USD2.55 billion, "and reached a record high," as the company explained in a note, up 142% on USD1.05 billion in the year 2021.

Ebitda 2022, on the other hand, is USD3.65 billion, up 168 percent from USD1.36 billion in 2021.

Finally, 2022 net sales are up 80% to USD11.77 billion from USD6.53 billion, thanks to a strong recovery in oil and gas drilling activity in the Americas.

Pirelli follows, up 4.0 percent.

CNH Industrial also opens in the green, up 0.2 percent, after it announced Wednesday that it bought back 597,103 of its own shares between Feb. 6 and Feb. 10.

The shares were taken over at an average price of about EUR14.8884, for a total of EUR8.9 million.

Interpump Group, on the other hand, opens down 0.2 percent The company approved its December 31 interim report, which closed with consolidated net income for the period at EUR269.6 million from EUR198.5 million, up nearly 36 percent.

Net sales for the year totaled EUR2.07 billion, up 30 percent on the previous year.

FinecoBank advances 0.5 percent. It announced Wednesday that it is considering a possible issuance of senior preferred instruments.

To this end, Fineco has mandated BNP Paribas and UniCredit Bank - formerly arrangers of the EMTN program - as well as Société Generale, all as joint bookrunners and joint lead managers, to organize dedicated meetings with potential investors in Europe, starting today.

On the Mid-Cap, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena moves ahead 1.0 percent at the open, after reporting Thursday that rating agency Moody's Investors Service upgraded the bank's ratings by 2 notches, raising the standalone Baseline Credit Assessment to "b1" from "b3," the long-term deposit rating to "Ba2" from "B1," and the subordinated debt rating to "B2" from "Caa1."

The long-term senior unsecured debt rating was upgraded by 3 notches to "B1" from "Caa1."

Webuild -- in the red by 0.2 percent -- disclosed Thursday that Clough's creditors' meeting held on Feb. 15, 2023 in Australia approved the proposed acquisition of Clough's assets by the group and that effective Feb. 16, 2023, the company then assumes management and control of Clough's business in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Autogrill opens up 0.2 percent. The company announced Wednesday that it has approved preliminary figures for 2022, reporting full-year consolidated revenues of EUR4.14 billion, up 50 percent from EUR2.60 billion in 2021.

Anima Holding opens in the red by 0.7 percent. Mediobanca announced Wednesday morning that it had concluded on behalf of FSI the purchase of 25.0 million ordinary shares of Anima Holding in a reverse accelerated bookbuilding procedure. The total consideration, based on a price per share of EUR4.35, is equivalent to a EUR108.7 million outlay for the strategic fund.

On the Small-Cap, Sabaf -- up 0.1 percent -- on Tuesday approved its results as of December 31, 2022, reporting a 3.9 percent drop in revenues to EUR253.1 million from EUR263.3 million a year earlier.

Net income for the period was EUR15.7 million, down 34 percent from EUR23.9 million in FY2021.

Elica opens up 0.9 percent after 2.3 percent on the eve. On Tuesday it reported FY2022 revenues of EUR548.6 million, up 1.4% from EUR541.3 million in FY2021.

Ebitda as of December 31, 2022 amounted to EUR50.8 million up 32 percent from EUR38.5 million in FY 2021.

GPI - in the green by 0.9 percent after last night's 3.6 percent red - on Wednesday reported that its board of directors reviewed its consolidated pre-consolidated figures for the 2022 fiscal year, which ended with total revenues of more than EUR355 million, up from EUR326.9 million achieved in 2021.

At the top are Bioera and PLC, up 6.3 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively.

Among SMEs, Alfonsino is off to a good start, up 7.6 percent after announcing its partnership with Beintoo, a data company of the Mediaset group, operating in the areas of digital advertising and data-driven marketing.

Leone Film Group, on the other hand, starts the day down 1.8 percent after announcing Thursday that it reported revenues of EUR55.8 million in 2022, down 43 percent from EUR98.6 million in 2021.

This decrease, the company explained, was mainly due to a reduction in the year in revenues from international executive productions and the fact that many of the year's major series productions will be delivered in 2023.

Ebitda also declined, for the same latter reason, to EUR38.9 million from EUR49.6 million in 2021, thus reporting a 22 percent drop.

Also hurting is GEL, down 1.1 percent after announcing on Wednesday that revenue as of December 31, 2022 is about EUR17.2 million down 7.5 percent from the figure as of 2021, when it amounted to EUR18.6 million.

eViso gives up 1.9 percent, despite revenues for the first half of 2022 at EUR145.0 million, up 47 percent from the previous year.

In New York--on European night--the Dow closed in the green by 0.1 percent, the Nasdaq closed up 0.9 percent, and the S&P 500 finished in the green by 0.3 percent.

In Asia, the Hang Seng closed up 0.8 percent, the Shanghai Composite gave up 1.0 percent, and the Nikkei finished in the green by 0.7 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0710 versus USD1.0677 at Wednesday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2053 from USD1.2019 on Wednesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD86.06 per barrel versus USD84.11 per barrel on Wednesday evening. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,841.30 an ounce from USD1,831.95 an ounce at Wednesday's close.

On Thursday's economic calendar, at 1000 CET will come that the Italian trade balance.

At the same time, it is the turn of the monthly ECB report while in the afternoon, at 1430 CET are expected of U.S. building permits.

Also from the U.S. and also at 1430 CET, the index of main producer prices and initial claims for unemployment benefits will come out.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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