(Alliance News) – On Wednesday, futures markets are pointing to a downturn across major exchanges, driven primarily by uncertainty over U.S. trade policy.
Meanwhile, Washington and Brussels are working to reduce the U.S. tariff rate, which has now reached 30%. Former President Trump has expressed confidence in the possibility of an imminent agreement that could avert even higher tariffs.
On the EU front, the eighteenth package of sanctions against Russia has been blocked after a veto from Slovakia. Kaja Kallas, the EU's High Representative, reminded that Putin could resort to using chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Additionally, the European Commission is expected to present its plans for the next long-term EU budget for 2028–2034, which is likely to exceed EUR1.0 trillion.
In futures trading, the FTSE Mib, which closed down 0.7% at 39,921.25 points on Tuesday, is losing 220 points or 0.5%.
London's FTSE 100 is indicated down 0.2% or 13 points, Paris' CAC 40 is forecast to drop 0.4% or 28 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is slipping 0.6% or 151 points.
Among the secondary indices on Tuesday, the Mid-Cap lost 0.4% to 54,592.54 points, the Small-Cap closed down 0.7% at 31,858.06 points, while Italy Growth ended up 0.2% at 8,280.26 points.
On the Mib, Prysmian showed strength, closing up 1.9% at EUR62.00 per share. Notably, UBS raised its target price for the stock to EUR72.00 from EUR70.00 with a 'buy' recommendation.
Stellantis gained 1.1% to EUR8.53 per share, following two consecutive bearish sessions.
Nexi – up 0.9% – announced on Monday that it had bought back 1.8 million of its own ordinary shares between July 7 and 11. The shares were purchased at an average price of EUR5.1720, for a total value of EUR9.3 million.
Intesa Sanpaolo – down 1.1% – announced on Monday that it had repurchased 14.4 million of its own ordinary shares between July 7 and 11. The shares were bought at an average price of EUR4.9118, for a total outlay of EUR70.6 million.
Recordati fell 3.5% to EUR52.10. Barclays lowered its target price for the stock to EUR50.00 from EUR52.00.
In the mid-cap segment, Carel Industries stood out, closing up 4.4% at EUR23.75. During the session, the stock set a new 52-week high at EUR23.95.
CIR – up 3.0% – announced on Monday that it had bought back 254,576 shares between July 7 and 11 at an average price of EUR0.5913, for a total value of approximately EUR150,000.
Buyback activity also continued for OVS – down 1.1% – which reported on Monday that it had repurchased 150,624 ordinary shares for a total value of around EUR545,000.
GVS, meanwhile, dropped 4.8% to EUR5.11 per share after two bullish sessions.
On the Small-Cap, Elica – up 6.9% – announced Tuesday that it had received approval from the relevant Chinese authorities to complete the acquisition of 100% of its Chinese subsidiary Elica Home Appliances - Zhejiang - Co - Putian. The deal includes the purchase of the remaining 0.56% from FUJI Industrial Co.
Caleffi gained 5.9% to EUR0.7920, building on a 0.3% gain from Monday evening.
On Tuesday, Safilo Group – down 0.4% – announced it had continued its buyback program, purchasing 493,060 ordinary shares for a total value of around EUR512,000.
doValue, on the other hand, fell 8.9%, after a 0.8% gain in the previous session.
Among SMEs, Ambromobiliare dropped more than 11%, hit by profit-taking after three sessions of significant gains.
AATech – down 3.3% – reported Tuesday that its board of directors had approved the document regarding the acquisition of all shares of Business Innovation Lab.
BIL, a fintech company heading its namesake group, is one of the leading Italian operators in lending-as-a-service, buy-now-pay-later, and credit AI, and owns the "Opyn" platform.
SG Co – down 1.2% – announced Tuesday that it closed the first half with a total value of EUR41.1 million, comprising consolidated revenue of EUR26.7 million and an order book of EUR14.4 million.
This figure marks an 11% increase over the previous quarter's EUR37 million and about a 19% rise over the full-year 2024 figure of EUR34.6 million.
Cloudia Research, among the minority of gainers, rose 8.8% after a 3.4% drop in the previous session.
In Asia, the Nikkei slipped 0.1%, the Shanghai Composite was just below flat, and the Hang Seng gained 0.3%.
In New York last night, the Dow Jones dropped 1.0%, the Nasdaq rose 0.2%, while the S&P 500 closed down 0.4%.
On the currency front, the euro is trading at USD1.1622 from USD1.1611 at Tuesday's close, while the pound is at USD1.3405 from USD1.3393 on Tuesday evening.
Among commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD68.89 from USD68.97 per barrel at the previous close, while gold is valued at USD3,338.375 from USD3,340.20 per ounce on Tuesday evening.
Looking at Wednesday's economic calendar, at 10:00 CEST, Italy will release inflation data, followed an hour later by the trade balance figures.
From the U.S., at 13:00 CEST, the mortgage market report is due, followed at 14:30 CEST by producer price data. At 15:15 CEST, industrial and manufacturing production figures will be released.
At 22:30 CEST, a speech by FOMC member Williams is scheduled.
On the corporate calendar for Piazza Affari, results from Saccheria F.lli Franceschetti are expected.
By Michele Cirulli, Alliance News Reporter
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