(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari closed Wednesday's session lower on a day marked by some macro data coming in from the major Eurozone economies.

On Wednesday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development slightly raised its growth outlook for the world economy as inflation slows and China dropped Covid-19-related restrictions but warned that the recovery faces a "long road."

The Paris-based organization forecasts economic expansion of 2.7 percent, up from 2.6 percent in the previous March report, with updates for the U.S., China and the eurozone.

The forecast is still lower than the 3.3 percent growth recorded in 2022.

In Italy, retail sales rose 0.2% on a monthly basis in April after showing no change in March while the market was expecting a 0.3% increase.

On a year-over-year basis, April's 3.2 percent increase followed a 5.8 percent increase in March and was lower than the 4.3 percent increase expected by economists.

Industrial production in Germany rose 0.3 percent on a monthly basis in April, recovering from a downwardly revised 2.1 percent decline in March, but below market forecasts of a 0.6 percent increase. The data were released Wednesday by Destatis.

The FTSE Mib closed up 0.1 percent to 27,055.50, the Mid-Cap rose 0.2 percent to 42,754.78, the Small-Cap gained 0.1 percent to 27,233.50, and Italy Growth lost 0.1 percent to 9,166.97.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closed slightly lower, Paris' CAC 40 lost 0.1 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 left 0.2 percent on the parterre.

On the highest-capitalization listno of Piazza Affari, the day after the hearing at Palazzo Chigi of Pirelli's Italian top management, led by Marco Tronchetti Provera, during which Tronchetti himself sounded the alarm about possible meddling by Sinochem -- Bicocca's largest shareholder with 37 percent -- and the risk of a takeover, Pirelli's stock continued to be nervous, giving up 1.0 percent.

By the 23rd of this month, under penalty of forfeiture, the government led by Giorgia Meloni must announce whether or not it intends to use Golden Power. Accompanying Tronchetti Provera yesterday were administrative and civil lawyers of the caliber of Andrea Zoppini and Giulio Napolitano, son of former President of the Republic, Giorgio. And major law firms in Rome and Milan have been at work for the Chinese for weeks.

Eni gained 0.7 percent after subsidiary Plenitude announced that the new battery plant in Assemini, in the province of Cagliari, the first utility-scale plant built by the company in Italy, is operational.

UniCredit fell 1.2%. The bank on Tuesday successfully issued dual tranche covered bonds in a total amount of EUR3 billion, with maturities of three and a half years and seven years, to institutional investors.

These are the first European Covered Bond Premium issued in Italy complying with the new European directive implemented on March 30, 2023, reopening the Italian covered bond market after several months. The bonds are secured by a mortgage portfolio of about EUR28.8 billion, of which 98.6 percent residential and 1.4 percent commercial, with a current weighted average LTV of 47.5 percent.

On the Mid-Cap, Autogrill lost 1.0 percent and Hera 1.1 percent on the Mib after announcing Wednesday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on initiatives in the areas of circular economy, sustainable mobility, and environmental communication, consistent with the goals for sustainable development defined by the UN 2030 Agenda.

The agreement between the two entities, which have long been committed to ensuring a transition to an increasingly circular economy through their projects, will last for one year and provides for the gradual development of a series of environmental actions in Autogrill's 390 or so catering outlets across the country.

UnipolSai gave up 0.2 percent after raising the curtain on BeRebel, the "pay-per-you" insurtech, a first in Italy and Europe with a mileage-based, monthly, fully digital auto policy.

BeRebel provides a minimum monthly cost, of about EUR10, in which 200 km are included. At the end of the month, any extra km driven will be equalized at the cost per km indicated in the policy, which is about 2 cents per km. Any unused km can be carried over to the following month.

Anima Holding Group's net inflows of assets under management - up 0.1 percent - were positive EUR63 million in May. At the end of May, total assets under management by the Anima group stood at more than EUR183 billion.

Alessandro Melzi d'Eril - chief executive officer of Anima Holding - commented, "The rotation of investments toward solutions characterized by a greater weight of the bond component, not only government bonds, brings us ever more rapidly back toward a portfolio mix consistent with the needs and investment approach of our type of clientele."

Juventus rose 1.7 percent the day after announcing Tuesday that "with reference to rumors that appeared in the press, it informs that it has sent a communication to the two other clubs that, like Juventus, have not exercised their withdrawal from the Super League Project - Barcelona and Real Madrid - in order to initiate a period of discussion among the three clubs having as its object the possible exit of Juventus from the Super League Project."

Among small-cap companies, Mondo TV rose 0.8 percent. The smallcap announced Wednesday that it has signed a sales agreement with Chinese company JYS Media for the sale of preschool series Lulu Brum Brum and One Love.

The sales agreement has a seven-year term starting June 1 and provides for the payment of a License Fee to acquire the distribution rights JYS Media, a subsidiary of Huace Group is internationally known for the management, exploitation and online marketing of video content in the Chinese territory.

EEMS Italia - up 0.7 percent - announced Tuesday that it has appointed Marco Teodori as chief operating officer.

With the establishment of the COO function and Teodori's appointment, "EEMS has strengthened the managerial staff that will be in charge of implementing the new industrial plan 2023-2027 whose presentation to the market is imminent," the company specified.

Equita Group on Wednesday closed down 0.8 percent after announcing the first investment of the Equita Private Debt Fund II in the DACH market, thus starting its geographic diversification path.

On the alternative capital market of Borsa Italiana, Planetel gained 2.7 percent after announcing that it has signed a multi-year framework agreement with Vodafone Italia - a subsidiary of Vodafone Group - regarding the concession in IRU - Indefeasible Right of Use of the right to use certain sections of fiber optic network.

Based on the framework agreement, the first operations to connect the base radio stations of Vodafone Italia's 4G and 5G mobile network in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Verona have already been defined. This will enable Vodafone to offer its mobile network customers a higher capacity and better latency service.

DBA Group is up 11 percent let it know that its board of directors has approved the business plan to 2026.

The plan confirms for the conrso year the disclosed budget figures of estimated value of production of EUR10.5 million, Ebitda of EUR10.3 million, and projected Net Debt Financial Position of EUR12.3 million with NFP/Ebitda ratio expected to decrease from 1.9 times in 2022 to 1.2 times in 2023.

In New York, the Dow is up 0.2 percent to 33,632.88, the Nasdaq falls 0.4 percent to 13,226.00 and the S&P 500 is down slightly to 4,281.85.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0706 versus USD1.0693 at Tuesday's European equities close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2459 from USD1.2419 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD77.37 per barrel versus USD76.18 per barrel Tuesday night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,957.87 an ounce from USD1,963.81 an ounce Tuesday night.

Thursday's macroeconomic calendar opens with Japan's Gross Domestic Product data, due at 0150 CEST, ahead of European dates at 0730 CEST with French private sector payrolls and 1100 CEST with Eurozone GDP and unemployment data.

From the US, at 1430 CEST, focus on jobless claims.

Among the companies in Piazza Affari, the accounts of Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment are expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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