Futures down; markets ready for two ECB cuts

(Alliance News) - European stock markets-according to the futures market-are set for a bearish opening on Monday, with trading rooms taking day-by-day measures of what the new U.S. administration's moves will be.

ECB Governing Council members, in several speeches last week, confirmed market expectations that at least two more consecutive rate cuts from the current 3 percent level will take place this week and in March. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey also agreed with this prediction.

Thus, the FTSE Mib-after ending up 0.2 percent at 36,200.72-is marking a red of 360.00 points.

London's FTSE 100 is marking a loss of 50.50 points, Paris' CAC 40 is giving up 71.80 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is marking a loss of 208.30 points.

Among the smaller lists on Friday, the Mid-Cap closed in the red 0.2 percent to 28,283.83, the Small-Cap gave up 0.2 percent to 28,099.26 while Italy Growth closed down 0.1 percent to 7,772.57.

On the highest-capitalization list in Piazza Affari, Banca Monte Paschi di Siena closed in the red by 6.9 percent, confirming itself as the worst stock of the session, after announcing in the morning that it had approved a voluntary public exchange offer on all the ordinary shares of Mediobanca-which, on the other hand, does better than all with a 7.7 percent rise-for EUR13.3 billion, entirely in shares.

As the company explained in a note, the exchange ratio was set at 2.300 newly issued shares of MPS for each existing share of Mediobanca, resulting in an implied offer price of EUR15.992 per share and a premium of 5.03% over official prices on January 23.

Also on the podium were Campari, Iveco Group and Moncler, with rises between 4.6 percent and 3.2 percent.

Banco BPM - in the green by 1.9% - SACE and Alfasigma announced the finalization of an agreement in favor of Alfasigma for the granting of two financing lines worth a total of EUR200 million. In recent years, Alfasigma, an international pharmaceutical company founded in Italy and present in more than 100 countries worldwide, has embarked on an ambitious plan to accelerate its growth and transformation and its expansion globally.

A2A - down 0.9 percent - on Thursday announced that it had completed the placement of its inaugural EUR500 million, 10-year European Green Bond, the first in the market for this new instrument by a European corporate issuer. The European Green Bond received orders from investors totaling EUR2.2 billion, about 4.4 times the amount offered.

Oil stocks fared badly, with Saipem down 2.9 percent, Eni in the red 1.4 percent and Tenaris down 0.8 percent.

On the Mid-Cap, Salvatore Ferragamo closed in the lead, up 4.4 percent.

Also doing well were Zignago Vetro and GVS, up 2.6 percent and 3.3 percent.

On the other side of the list, D'Amico closed 5.0% in the red and Fincantieri gave up 2.7%.

Juventus Football Club - down 0.4 percent - announced Thursday that it had reached an agreement with Paris Saint-Germain FC to acquire, on a temporary basis until June 30, the rights to the sports performance of footballer Kolo Muani Randal for a consideration of EUR1.0 million, plus ancillary charges of EUR2.6 million.

On the Small-Cap, Bialetti Industrie gains 3.5 percent. The company is close to a deal with Nuo Capital, the investment arm of Hong Kong family office Wwic, led by Stephen Cheng.

GPI--up 0.4 percent--on Thursday announced that it has been awarded the project for the new Health Information System. As the company explained in a note, the project will involve all of South Tyrol's health districts-Bozen, Brixen, Bruneck and Meran-serving more than half a million citizens. The contract, with a total value of about EUR16 million and a duration of 48 months, includes a share of about EUR13 million reserved for GPI.

At the bottom is Aeffe, down 11 percent. The company reported Thursday that its board of directors approved preliminary revenue figures for fiscal year 2024, which closed with consolidated revenues of EUR251 million, down 21 percent from EUR319 million in 2023.

Among SMEs, Compagnia dei Caraibi ends up 4.7 percent after announcing Friday that the board of directors approved the sale by Refined Brands Srl, a wholly owned subsidiary of Compagnia dei Caraibi, of a 75 percent stake in Have Fun Sarl for EUR745,500.

The remaining 25% of Have Fun Sarl remains with Alessandro Salvano.

Vantea SMART, in the red by 2.5 percent, reported that its board of directors has appointed Riccardo Veglioni as chief financial officer and investor relations manager.

The change was necessary as Lara Lindozzi took over as CEO of the company.

Spindox, up 1.0 percent, announced Friday that it is partnering with Spindox Labs on the VIPPSTAR project - Visually Impaired children and adolescents: bridging the gap with Personalized Prevention Strategies, Tools, Approaches, and Resource.

The project is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe - Cluster Health program.

Novamarine - flat at EUR3.58 - reported revenues from boat sales of EUR26.1 million in 2024 from EUR23.5 million in 2023, up 11 percent.

As for the order book for 2025 this is EUR27.1 million.

iVision Tech - in the red by 2.5 percent - reported Thursday that it has been granted a patent for iSee, a wearable assistive technology designed for the blind and visually impaired.

SosTravel.com - in the red by 5.6 percent - reported Thursday that it has signed a business agreement with Veratour, a leader in the resort and tailor-made tourism industry. The agreement, part of the sales channel diversification strategy launched in 2024, will allow Veratour customers who purchase products from the GO WEST and GO EAST catalogs through a travel agency to take advantage of the Lost Luggage Concierge service, renamed by Veratour as "No Problem Luggage."

In New York on Friday evening, the Dow gave up 0.3 percent, the Nasdaq closed down 0.5 percent, and the S&P was down 0.3 percent.

Among Asian exchanges, the Hang Seng is advancing 0.8 percent, the Shanghai Composite marks minus 0.1 percent, and the Nikkei closed down 0.9 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0456 against USD1.0512 at Friday's European stock close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2445 from USD1.2448 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD77.93 per barrel from USD78.20 per barrel at Friday's European stock close. Gold trades at USD2,753.29 an ounce from USD2,774.07 an ounce Friday evening.

On Monday's economic calendar, in Europe, at 1000 CET will come Germany's ifo business confidence index while, in the afternoon, from the US, building permits released in December and, at 1600 CET, data on new home sales are expected.

In Piazza Affari, no special announcements are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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