(Alliance News) - On Wednesday, major European stock markets continue the bullish course of the opening, with Milan doing better than all, following the release of some important macros in the Old Continent.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is up 1.3 percent to 33,905.43, the Mid-Cap is up 1.3 percent to 47,482.15, the Small-Cap is in the green 0.8 percent to 29,020.42 while Italy Growth is in the fractional red at 8,087.50.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the green by 1.2 percent, London's FTSE100 rises 0.6 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 advances 0.9 percent.

In macroeconomic news, Italy's services sector grew at a slightly weaker-but still strong-rate in June than in May, S&P Global reported Wednesday.

The services PMI stood at 53.7 in June from 54.2 points in May, remaining above the 50.0-point mark that separates contraction from expansion in services activity.

The PMI index for Eurozone Composite Manufacturing, on the other hand, stood at 50.9 in June from 52.2 in May, falling for the first time since October last year and curbing the recent upward trend at the end of the second quarter.

In addition, Eurostat reported that producer prices in the Eurozone fell 0.2 percent monthly in May, following April's 1 percent drop and compared with forecasts for a 0.1 percent drop.

Back in Milan, on the Mib, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena rises 6.1% followed by BPER Banca and DiaSorin, up 5.3% and 3.0%.

Banco BPM and Ferrari also do well, trading in the green by 2.9% and 2.6%.

Stellantis rises 0.6% after jointly announcing with Archer Aviation that Archer has received an investment of an additional USD55 million from Stellantis as part of the strategic financing agreement between the companies, following the achievement of flight test results last month.

An investment that, as previously announced, adds to the series of purchases totaling 8.3 million Archer shares made by Stellantis in March this year. During 2023, Stellantis invested USD110 million in Archer through a combination of open market share purchases and investments made under the companies' strategic financing agreement.

The European Investment Bank and Snam -- in the green by 0.7 percent -- on Tuesday signed a loan totaling EUR100 million aimed at supporting energy upgrades of public buildings and energy efficiency measures for industrial activities.

It is a framework loan that can be used in several tranches within a 3-year period. Each tranche will have a maximum total term of 15 years.

Among the bearish, who are the minority, Moncler gives up 0.1%, Recordati 0.3% while Eni and Saipem sit on the bottom with declines of 0.3% and 0.7%. Tenaris, on the other hand, rises 0.2%.

On the cadet segment, Sanlorenzo rises 3.0%. The company and its subsidiary Bluegame, as a participating party, have signed a Development Agreement with the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Invitalia and the Tuscany Region for a total of EUR91.5 million that envisages the implementation of an ambitious industrial investment program.

Doing better is only De' Longhi, up 5.0 percent.

Maire Tecnimont - in the green by 1.4 percent - on Tuesday reported that NextChem has won new contracts worth a total of about EUR30 million from major international customers, mainly in the Middle East and Europe.

Among smallcaps, Pininfarina and Banca Profilo gained 5.4 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively, taking the top spot.

Edison Rsp--which shares only savings shares, is down 0.3 percent--reported that it will build 7 new 45 MW photovoltaic plants in Piedmont. The plants are located in the provinces of Turin and Alessandria, and are in addition to Edison's two existing plants in the area.

Overall, the nine plants have a producibility of 70 GWh per year, equal to the energy needs of 26 thousand households and useful in avoiding the emission of more than 30 thousand tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Among SMEs, Eles advances 4.9 percent. On Wednesday, it announced that it has received, from a major defense sector customer, an order for two simulation class rooms for control rooms.

The order received from the customer, a multinational group, a world leader in every sphere - air, sea, land - in the Defense sector , consolidates the relationship of trust based on the highest reliability of the product provided by the Eles group.

SG Co rises 1.5 percent after it reported on Wednesday that it had reported an order backlog as of June 30 of EUR26.2 million, up about 33 percent from the same period 2023 of EUR19.8 million.

The order backlog value of the group's contracted orders as of the first half of the year is also equivalent to89% of the group's consolidated sales as of Dec. 31, 2023, or EUR29.5 million.

Officina Stellare - in the green by 2.3 percent - announced Wednesday that it has been awarded a new contract with the European Space Agency to build a complete optical ground station for Lasercom applications for the European Space Operations Center ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany.

The 24-month contract has a total value of about EUR3.5 million and is part of the ESA GSTP General Support Technology Program, which supports research and development of highly innovative technologies.

CleanBnB is flat after it announced Tuesday that its board of directors reviewed some management data for the first half of the year, during which gross bookings exceeded EUR21.4 million, up 27 percent from EUR16.8 million collected in the first half of 2023.

During the period, CleanBnB handled a total of 55,329 stays, up 35 percent to 41,025 in H1 2023.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 1.3 percent, the Hang Seng gained 1.2 percent, and the Shanghai Composite gave up 0.5 percent.

In New York, the Dow closed up 0.4 percent to 39,331.85, the S&P gained 0.6 percent to 5,509.01 and the Nasdaq rose 0.8 percent to 18,028.76.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0761 from USD1.0737 on Tuesday in closing European equities while the pound was worth USD1.2697 from USD1.2676 on Tuesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD86.32 per barrel from USD86.92 per barrel at yesterday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,343.11 an ounce from USD2,324.49 on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday's macroeconomic calendar includes, from the US, where markets will close mid-day for the Independence Day holiday, mortgage data at 1300 CEST while jobless claims will be released at 1430 CEST. Composite and services PMIs will come in at 1545 CEST.

Minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting will close the day at 2000 CEST.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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