(Alliance News) - European exchanges, according to the futures market, indicate a bearish opening in the third session of the week, with trading rooms closely monitoring developments in negotiations between the U.S. govenrnment and the Republican opposition over the debt ceiling.

The White House says some progress has been made in the latest round of talks with Republican negotiators to avoid a catastrophic U.S. debt default before the June 1 deadline.

"We're seeing movement," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday afternoon, adding, "Both sides have to understand that they're not going to get everything they want."

Among the corporate news preceding the ringing of the bell, MFE-MediaForEurope made it known Wednesday that its board of directors approved its first quarter results in which a consolidated profit of EUR10.1 million was reported from EUR2.7 million in the same period last year.

Thus, the FTSE Mib has a bearish reading of 210.00 points after closing down 0.5 percent at 27,174.97 last night.

London's FTSE 100 is giving up 59.70 points, Paris' CAC 40 is giving up 59.30 points, while Frankfurt's DAX 40 marks a contraction of 125.50 points.

Among the smaller lists on Tuesday, the Mid-Cap closed down 0.7 percent to 42,742.02, the Small-Cap rose 0.1 percent to 27,975.69, while Italy Growth gave up 0.2 percent to 9,158.13.

On Tuesday's main list in Piazza Affari, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena rose 3.2 percent, but Saipem took the top spot with a 3.6 percent gain. Other oil Tenaris is among the best, up 1.4 percent.

Mediobanca closed 0.3 percent in the red the day after it signed an agreement with Banca Ifis -- down 0.5 percent on the mid-cap -- to enter into a long-term partnership to manage impaired loans.

According to the agreement, Banca Ifis will take over from Mediobanca, for a consideration of EUR100 million, Revalea Spa, a company created in 2022 from the spin-off of NPLs resulting from the acquisition of non-performing loan portfolios, a business that is no longer among Mediobanca Group's core activities.

The performance of luxury goods in Piazza Affari remains noteworthy, but for the opposite reasons than on Monday, as the major stocks drag down the listings: on the Mib Moncler gives up 5.4 percent.

On the Mid-Cap, Brunello Cucinelli gave up 3.9%, Salvatore Ferragamo lost 2.0% and Tod's 1.4%.

Juventus stock rose 2.5%. Yesterday the club received a ruling from the Court of Appeal of the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio penalizing it by 10 points in the standings. Acquitted, however, were the seven executives for whom the federal prosecutor had requested eight months of inhibition.

"The company awaits the publication of the grounds and reserves the right, in defense of its interests, to consider an appeal to the Collegio di Garanzia dello Sport, within the terms provided by the Sports Ordinance," is the only comment released by the company.

Fincantieri -- in the red by 2.1 percent -- on Friday reported that the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Fincantieri's U.S. subsidiary, Marinette Marine, a contract to build the fourth "Constellation" class frigate, worth about USD526 million, for the U.S. Navy.

The contract for the first frigate and option for 9 additional ships, signed in 2020, has a total value of about USD5.5 billion and includes after-sales support and crew training.

Among the small-cap companies, Somec gave up 0.7 percent. The company reported on Tuesday that its U.S. subsidiary Fabbrica has won new orders in the U.S. totaling USD13.8 million, which will be carried out in collaboration with Somec's Mestieri division, "thus benefiting from the important synergies fostered by belonging to the group," the company explained.

Banca Profilo--up 3.8 percent--reported Tuesday that parent company Arepo BP and Twenty First Capital, a French alternative investment fund management company and limited partner and portfolio manager of the French-law fund Fonds Archimedes, have reached a conditional binding agreement to buy and sell a number of Banca Profilo shares held by Arepo equal to 29 percent of its share capital, net of treasury shares.

Esprinet surrendered 0.1 percent after announcing on Monday, purely for deflationary purposes of a potential long-lasting tax dispute, that it had signed an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service aimed at settling out-of-court the disputes raised on VAT in relation to tax periods from 2013 to 2017.

Based on the reached tombale agreement, the company will have to pay a total amount of approximately EUR33.2 million and, therefore, against a total original claim of more than EUR220 million, the company will bear an actual charge, in terms of VAT and related penalties, of less than 14 percent of this claim, plus accrued interest. The amounts due will be paid by the company in installments over a maximum of five years, with equal quarterly payments.

On the alternative capital market of Borsa Italiana, Alfonsino rose to the top with 13 percent after reporting that first-quarter revenues rose 9 percent year-on-year to EUR1.2 million from EUR1.1 million in the same period a year earlier.

The company also reported that the figure on the total number of orders, at approximately 132,779, is down 7% from the previous year, when 142,162 orders were recorded, a function of the growth in the average shopping cart, estimated at 6% -- to EUR24.07 from EUR22.81 -- and revenue per order, which stood at EUR9.20 from EUR7.91, resulting in a 16% improvement.

The board of directors of Italian Design Brands -- up 1.2 percent -- on Tuesday approved the group's results as of March 31, 2023, reporting revenues of EUR62.9 million in the first quarter of the year, up 81 percent from EUR34.9 million in the same period 2022.

Pro forma adjusted net income amounted to EUR5.4 million up 187% from EUR1.9 million in the same period 2022, accounting for 8.1% of total pro forma revenues.

Eles gained 0.7 percent. The company ended the first quarter with revenues of EUR6.3 million, up 36 percent from the same period last year. On a like-for-like basis, thus taking into account the acquisition of Campera Electronics Systems Srl from January 2022, they rise to EUR4.9 million or 6 percent from EUR4.7 million as of March 31, 2022.

In New York overnight Europe, the Dow gave up 0.7 percent the Nasdaq 1.3 percent, while the S&P 500 closed down 1.1 percent.

In Asia, the Nikkei is down 0.9 percent, the Shanghai Composite is giving up 0.9 percent, while the Hang Seng is contracting 1.2 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0787 versus USD1.0778 at Tuesday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2456 from USD1.2425 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD77.53 per barrel versus USD77.31 per barrel Tuesday evening. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,976.97 an ounce from USD1,966.95 an ounce last night.

On Wednesday's macroeconomic calendar, the European Central Bank's non-monetary policy summit is expected at 0900 CEST. An hour later comes German business expectations and the IFO index of German business confidence.

At 1300 CEST comes mortgage loan data from the United States.

At 1630 CEST it is the turn of oil stocks.

Among publicly traded companies, results from Assicurazioni Generali and Laboratorio Farmaceutico ERFO are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.