(Alliance News) - European markets opened lower on Thursday.

On the macroeconomic front, Italy's construction sector returned to growth in October after three consecutive months of contraction, according to PMI data released Thursday by S&P Global and Hamburg Commercial Bank. The construction PMI released by HCOB rose to 50.7 in October from 49.8 in September, marking the first expansion since June and the strongest pace since March.

In Germany, industrial production grew by 1.3% in September, below expectations of 3%, after a revised decline of 3.7% in August.

In the Eurozone, the construction PMI in October was 44.0, compared to 46.0 in September.

Meanwhile, in the US, the majority of US Supreme Court justices expressed deep skepticism about the legitimacy of a wide range of tariffs imposed by Donald Trump: this could mark a turning point in the White House's trade policy, and beyond.

As a result, the MIB fell by 0.5% to 43,220.57 points, the Mid-Cap fell by the same percentage to 56,755.08, the Small-Cap showed a negative balance of 0.2% to 35,914.48, and Italy Growth left 0.3% on the parterre at 8,555.79 points.

The CAC 40 fell by 0.8%, the DAX 40 by 0.4%, and the FTSE 100 by 0.1%.

On the Milan Stock Exchange, Banca Popolare di Sondrio's accounts rewarded it with a 1.0% gain after it reported a profit of EUR 512.7 million, up 19% from EUR 431.9 million recorded from January to September 2024. Net interest income stood at EUR 826.9 million, up 1.6% compared to the same period last year.

BPER Banca - up 0.4% - closed the first nine months of 2025 with a consolidated net profit of EUR 1.53 billion, up from EUR 1.17 billion in the same period of 2024. The parent company's profit for the period rose to EUR 1.48 billion from EUR 1.14 billion.

Nexi fell 0.1% to EUR4.109 after Barclays cut its target price to EUR3.50 from EUR4.10 with an 'underweight' rating.

Iveco Group - down 0.1% - closed the third quarter with a profit for the period of EUR 16 million, down from EUR 90 million in the same quarter of 2024. Adjusted net profit was EUR 40 million, down from EUR 94 million in the comparison period.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena has initiated procedures to amend its articles of association and introduce the possibility of submitting a 'board list' ahead of the renewal of the top management scheduled for April 2026: the stock is down 1.1%.

Tenaris performed well, up 1.0%, Stellantis was up 0.6%, and STMicroelectronics led the list with a 1.3% increase.

DiaSorin recorded sales of 15% at EUR63.50 per share: net profit fell to EUR137 million from EUR141 million and adjusted profit to EUR174 million from EUR176 million. JPMorgan cut its target price to EUR68.00 from EUR75.40 with an 'underweight' rating.

In the mid-cap sector, Ariston Holding rose 4.1% to EUR3.856 per share and launched a buyback program for up to 2 million shares.

Impresa has notified the Portuguese market authority of the progress of negotiations with MFE-MediaForEurope for a possible entry into the capital of up to 33%, specifying that there are currently no binding agreements. MFE A and MFB shares are down 0.3% each.

ERG, down 0.2%, launched its first storage facility in Vicari, in the province of Palermo, marking its entry into the storage systems sector.

NewPrinces, which acquired over EUR 3.0 million of its own shares in October, is down 0.6%.

Cementir Holdig also saw sales, closing the basket in the red with 3.0%.

On the Small-Cap, Generalfinance announced that it closed the first nine months of 2025 with a net profit of EUR 21.0 million, up 55% compared to EUR 13.6 million in the same period of 2024. Revenues were strong, with net interest income up 50% to EUR 49.2 million compared to EUR 32.9 million in the first nine months of 2024. The stock fell 0.8%.

OPS Ecom gained the top spot with purchases of 5.3% at EUR0.158, while Landi Renzo fell 4.0% to EUR0.8820 per share.

Cellularline - down 2.9% - closed the first nine months of 2025 with a net profit of EUR 780,000, down from EUR 1.1 million in the same period of 2024. Adjusted net profit decreased to EUR 4.7 million from EUR 5.2 million.

CY4Gate, up 3.2%, announced on Thursday that it had been awarded a contract worth a total of approximately EUR10.00 million for 2025.

The contract was signed in the third quarter of 2025 and announced today as the financial and technical conditions precedent have been met.

Among SMEs, RES - Recupero Etico Sostenibile - announced that its EUR 20 million capital increase has been fully subscribed. The stock is down 11% to EUR 6.42 per share.

Datrix, up 4.3%, signed an agreement with Banco BPM to act as Specialist. The three-year agreement provides that BPM, in addition to the activities required by the relevant regulations for the role of Specialist on Euronext Growth Milan, with the obligation to display bid and ask prices for the stock through Banca Akros, the corporate investment bank of the Banco BPM Group, will also follow the financial analysis of Datrix stock with the production of dedicated research.

STAR7 - not affected by trading - announced on Wednesday that its US subsidiary STAR7 LLC has signed an agreement to acquire 20% of Almon. The transaction is part of the group's international expansion strategy, aimed at strengthening its presence in the North American market, which is considered strategic for future growth.

High Quality Food has signed an investment agreement with Proposta Terza for the subscription of a convertible bond with a total value of EUR 5.0 million, conditional, among other things, on the approval of the extraordinary shareholders' meeting. The stock is down 2.6%.

In New York, the Dow Jones rose 0.5% to 47,311.00 points, the Nasdaq rose 0.7% to 25,620.03, while the S&P 500 ended trading up 0.4% at 6,796.29 points.

In Asia, the Nikkei showed a positive performance of 1.2% to 50,810.50, the Shanghai Composite closed up 1.0% at 4,007.76, and the Hang Seng was up 2.0% at 26,465.50 points.

On the currency front, the euro traded at USD 1.1509 from USD 1.1477 at Wednesday's stock market close, while the pound traded at USD 1.3067 from USD 1.3039 on Wednesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude traded at USD 64.01 per barrel from USD 64.30 per barrel at Wednesday evening's close, while gold was worth USD 4,011.62 per ounce from USD 3,984.00 per ounce last night.

On Thursday's macroeconomic calendar, at 1100 CET it is the turn of Eurozone retail sales data.

At 1700 CET, Fed's Williams is scheduled to speak, while at 2130 CET it will be Waller's turn.

At 2230 CET, the Federal Reserve's weekly balance sheet will be published.

By Michele Cirulli, Alliance News Reporter

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