(Alliance News) - On Wednesday, the main European stock markets were unaffected by the turmoil over tariffs and US President Donald Trump's comments, in which he even suggested new tariffs.

Investors are betting on smooth negotiations between the US and the EU, in line with the conciliatory words of European Commission President von der Leyen, who called for a quick agreement.

The FTSE Mib, the best performer in Europe, closed up 1.6% at 40,716.60 points on a day that once again saw banks take center stage.

The Mid-Cap ended up 1.0% at 55,306.37, the Small-Cap rose 0.4% to 32,433.37, and the Italy Growth ended the session up 0.3% at 8,290.90 points.

In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris rose 1.4%, the DAX 40 in Frankfurt gained 1.3% and the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.1%.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, commented: "Stocks continue to show their defiance of Trump's tariff threats, with the Dax the latest index to reach new all-time highs."

"This comes as the world waits to see if the EU will receive one of the now infamous tariff letters, but stocks continue to behave as if there will be another round of delays on August 1."

"Rumors suggesting that Trump values the negotiation process more than an actual resolution seem to suggest that a further postponement of tariffs is imminent, although this is a risky approach," the analyst concludes.

Returning to the Italian stock market, Azimut led the blue chips, posting a 5.8% gain to EUR29.37 per share after Deutsche Bank Research upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'hold' and raised its target price to EUR35.00. Funding data, which stood at EUR1.45 billion in June, pushed the stock to its highest level this year.

It was a busy day for UniCredit, which saw its stock rise 4.6%. By July 16, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court is expected to rule on the golden power launched by the Italian government after the public exchange offer on BancoBPM, whose stock posted a 2.3% gain.

The day also saw a tough stance from the German government after the Italian bank converted around 10% of its synthetic position in Commerzbank into shares, bringing its stake in shares and related voting rights to around 20%. Through a spokesperson, Germany reiterated that "the state will not sell its stake."

During trading, UniCredit reached a new annual high of EUR 61.12 per share.

Eni, up 1.0%, continued its buyback plan, purchasing treasury shares for EUR 50 million.

Leonardo, which acquired Swedish company Axiomatics, ended the day down 0.1%.

Intesa Sanpaolo, up 2.6%, updated its 52-week high to EUR5.061 per share.

STMicroelectronics closed the day down 2.3% at EUR27.10 after Deutsche Bank Research raised its target price to EUR32 from EUR30 with a 'buy' recommendation.

On the Mid-Cap, there were purchases on BFF Bank, which closed up 6.0% at EUR10.24.

Alerion raised the bar by 1.4% to EUR22.05, after hitting a new 52-week high of EUR22.95 per share during trading.

Lottomatica, which acquired 233,000 treasury shares for over EUR 5 million, rose 3.7% to reach an annual high of EUR 24.84 per share.

Banca Ifis, up 3.6%, 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.

d'Amico International closed the day down 3.0%.

On the Small-Cap front, Softlab recorded the best performance of the day, up 12%. The company confirmed the positive trend of the last month, which saw it rise by 11%.

Seco, up 8.8%, 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.

Safilo continues its positive trend and remains among the leaders, gaining 5.8% to EUR1.094 per share.

Biesse announced the resignation of Massimiliano Bruni from his position as independent non-executive director and member of the control, risk and sustainability committee, with immediate effect. The stock closed down 0.8%.

BestBe Holding closed in the red again, slipping 3.3%.

Among SMEs, Innovatec took off with a 24% rise after announcing on Wednesday that its subsidiary Innovatec Energy had signed a turnkey EPC contract with Elios Sei for approximately EUR 4.1 million.

The EPC activity will be carried out in collaboration with the subsidiary ESI, which gained 12%, and which will act as the nominated technical contractor for a fee of EUR 2.8 million.

eVISO announced 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. As a result, the stock gained 2.3%.

Eprcomunicazione has signed a framework agreement for the acquisition of a majority stake in Cernuto Pizzigoni & Partners Srl. The stock rose 4.2%.

Officina Stellare, up 1.4%, signed a contract with the German Aerospace Research Center for EUR 2.5 million.

Mondo TV France ended the session flat, while TMP Group fell 4.0%, bereft of its chairwoman, Maria Teresa Astorino, who resigned for personal reasons.

In New York, the Dow Jones remained largely stable at 44,235 points, the S&P gained 0.2%, while the Nasdaq rose 0.5%.

In Asia, the Nikkei advanced 0.3%, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng closed down 1.1%.

On the currency front, the euro traded at USD 1.1708 from USD 1.1695 at Tuesday's close, while the pound traded at USD 1.3586 from USD 1.3551 on Tuesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude traded at USD70.10 per barrel, up from USD69.84 at the previous close, while gold was worth USD3,311.04 per ounce, up from USD3,294.18 on Tuesday.

On Thursday's economic calendar, the German consumer price index report on an annual and monthly basis is due at 0800 CEST.

At 1000 CEST, Italian industrial production data is expected, and at 1110 CEST, a 12-month Italian BOT auction is scheduled. At 1200 CEST, estimates of Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and British consumer sentiment are expected.

At 2:30 p.m. CEST, focus will be on US unemployment claims, while at 5:30 p.m. CEST, US Treasury auctions with maturities of 4 and 8 weeks and an auction with a maturity of 30 years are scheduled.

At 7:00 p.m. CEST, Waller of the Federal Reserve is scheduled to speak, followed by Breeden of the BoE in the UK at 7:30 p.m. CEST.

Brunello Cucinelli and LU-VE are expected to report their half-year results on the Italian stock exchange.

By Michele Cirulli, Alliance News Reporter

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