(Alliance News) - European markets opened higher, with the dominant focus of the markets remaining firmly anchored on US trade policies.
Investors, in a highly cautious environment, are avoiding taking significant positions as they assess President Trump's threats and the potential for escalating trade tensions.
The US president announced plans to impose a 50% tariff on copper imports, a higher percentage than expected. He also warned that, despite recent progress on a trade agreement with the EU, persistent frustration over EU taxes and penalties on US technology companies could prompt him to unilaterally introduce a new tariff rate within the next two days.
As a result, the FTSE Mib is up 1.0% at 40,567.14 points.
The CAC 40 in Paris is up 0.4%, as is the DAX 40 in Frankfurt, while the FTSE 100 in London is up 0.1%.
Among the smaller indices, the Mid-Cap is up 0.7% at 55,140.63, the Small-Cap is up 0.2% at 32,381.82, and the Italy Growth is up 0.1% at 8,271.21 points.
On the Mib, Azimut got off to a good start, rising 3.0% to €28.61, its third session of gains. The company announced on Tuesday that net inflows in June stood at €1.45 billion, bringing the total since the beginning of the year to €9.01 billion.
This result, the company explained, corresponds to 90% of its annual target of over EUR10.0 billion. At the end of June, the group's total assets stood at EUR112.83 billion, up 4.9% compared to the end of 2024.
UniCredit, up 0.9%, announced that, after receiving all necessary legal and regulatory approvals, including those from the European Central Bank, the German Federal Competition Authority, and the Federal Reserve, it has converted approximately 10% of its synthetic position in Commerzbank into shares, bringing its shareholding and related effective voting rights to approximately 20%.
UniCredit intends to convert the remaining synthetic position of approximately 9% into shares in due course, reaching approximately 29% of the voting rights in Commerzbank, as explained by the company in a statement.
Amplifon - down 0.7% - announced on Tuesday that it had purchased 49,483 ordinary treasury shares between July 1 and July 4. The average unit price was €19.783 per share, for a total value of approximately €979,000.
Poste Italiane opened down 0.2%. It should be noted that JPMorgan raised its target price on the stock to €21.00 from €20.00.
On the Mid-Cap market, Comer Industries advanced 2.5%, after gaining 0.3% in the previous session.
Banca Ifis, up 3.1%, announced on Tuesday that it had completed the placement of a senior preferred bond issue for institutional investors for a total amount of EUR 400 million.
The transaction is part of a EUR5 billion EMTN program.
Piaggio is down 2.7% to EUR1.90 per share, after gaining 1.2% the previous day.
d'Amico is down 1.1%, after two bullish sessions with a price of around EUR3.53 per share.
On the Small-Cap market, Itway is up 5.8% at EUR1.36 per share, after yesterday's 1.2% decline.
Bestbe Holding is up 3.9%, also among the best performers, albeit with a price of only EUR0.09.
Safilo is up 2.1%, after gaining more than 13% on Tuesday.
Seco, up 2.1%, announced on Wednesday the official launch of the "SECO Application Hub," a new application marketplace designed to radically simplify the development and implementation of Artificial Intelligence on edge devices.
With over 150 AI/ML applications already available at launch, the Hub enables companies to accelerate the adoption of advanced applications for computer vision, audio analysis, and voice interaction, as well as any other type of data-driven service across a wide range of industries, including industrial automation, medical, smart mobility, and retail.
Among the many bearish stocks is I Grandi Viaggi, which is down 4.0% to €2.17 per share, on track for its fifth bearish session.
Among SMEs, Innovatec is up 6.7%, on its fifth bullish session.
eVISO - up 1.4% - announced on Wednesday the success of its new "Human AI Software Development" project. This innovation promises to revolutionize development times and improve the quality of forecasts on its proprietary digital platform.
The project has been released to all eVISO employees, who can now natively use the suggestions of this internally developed AI agent in their everyday tools.
Officina Stellare - up 0.4% - announced on Wednesday that it had signed a new contract with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to supply a complete optical ground station for time distribution applications for the future second-generation European GPS navigation satellite constellation "Galileo," part of the OpSTAR project.
The contract will have a duration of 18 months and a total value of approximately EUR 2.5 million, of which 60% will be paid by 2025, while the remaining 40% will be paid during 2026.
In New York, during European trading hours, the Dow Jones fell 0.4%, the S&P fell 0.1%, while the Nasdaq closed just above par.
In Asia, the Nikkei rose 0.3%, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng is down 1.1%.
On the currency front, the euro is trading at USD 1.1708 from USD 1.1695 at Tuesday's close, while the pound is trading at USD 1.3591 from USD 1.3551 on Tuesday evening.
Among commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD 70.42 from USD 69.84 per barrel at the previous close, while gold is worth USD 3,292.24 from USD 3,294.18 per ounce on Tuesday.
On Wednesday's economic calendar, at 1300 CEST, the US will release its mortgage market report, while at 1600 CEST, crude oil inventories, weekly EIA inventories, and Cushing inventories will be released.
At 8:00 p.m. CEST, the minutes of the latest FOMC meeting are expected.
There are no events scheduled in the corporate calendar.
By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News Reporter
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