(Alliance News) - Major European stock markets are expected to open mixed on Monday, in the aftermath of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse that also dragged down Piazza Affari on Friday.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is given down just 10.0 points after closing 1.6 percent in the red at 27,281.96.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is expected to open up 7.5 points or 0.1 percent, London's FTSE 100 is expected down 1.0 point while Frankfurt's DAX 40 is given up 17.0 points or 0.1 percent.

"The banking crisis changes the landscape for the Fed's expectations," commented Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank. Powell certainly does not want to go down in history as the clumsiest Fed chairman in the history of banking. So, it is very likely that the Fed will simply forget about a 50 basis point increase this month or not increase at all."

"Activity in Fed funds futures now rates over a 98 percent chance for a 25 basis point hike in March, not because U.S. employment data were weak enough to revise rate hike expectations last Friday, but because the Fed cannot ignore the problems caused by steep interest rate hikes in the banking sector and cannot afford to trigger a financial crisis to bring inflation back to 2 percent," the analyst added.

On Friday, among Italy's smaller lists, the Mid-Cap gave up 1.5 percent to 43,748.23, the Small-Cap lost 1.2 percent to 30,165.49, and Italy Growth finished down 0.5 percent to 9,436.97.

On the Mib, banks fared worst, with FinecoBank tail-end in the red 4.6 percent, BPER Banca down 4.5 percent, and Banca Mediolanum and UniCredit down 3.5 percent and 3.1 percent.

Buzzi Unicem closed higher among the few, with 3.0 percent, after issuing a press release Friday mentioning the "smear campaign undertaken since the beginning of February that aims to undermine the company's reputation," as the company explains.

"The contents spread by the organizations state that Buzzi Unicem is somehow involved in the activities carried out by the subsidiary SLK Cement, a current company in Russia, tending to support the war of aggression against Ukraine."

Leonardo also did well, ending up 2.9% after the accounts. The company reported a net profit of EUR932.0 million in 2022, up 59% from EUR687.0 million in 2021. The board also announced that it will propose a dividend in line with the previous year of EUR0.14 per share.

Italgas closed up 1.7 percent after approving Thursday consolidated results as of December 31, 2022, reporting revenues of EUR1.54 billion up 12 percent from EUR1.37 billion in 2021.

In addition, the board resolved to propose to the shareholders' meeting, the distribution of a dividend of EUR0.317 per share, up 7.5 percent from 2021, when it was EUR0.295.

CNH Industrial finished 3.9 percent in the red. It disclosed Thursday that between Feb. 28 and March 2 it bought 443,313 of its own shares.

The shares were taken over at an average price of about EUR15.45 for a total of EUR7.2 million.

Prysmian also hurt, down 4.3 percent after receiving a 'buy' recommendation from Kepler Cheuvreux and a target price raised to EUR45.00 from EUR38.00. On Thursday the company approved results as of December 31, 2022 reporting a jump in net income to EUR509.0 million from EUR310.0 a year earlier.

On the Mid-Cap, Datalogic's consolidated revenues rose 9.5 percent to EUR654.6 million in 2022 from EUR597.8 million achieved as of Dec. 31, 2021, the company disclosed Thursday; at constant exchange rates, revenues are up 4.4 percent. The stock closed 2.3 percent in the red.

Safilo Group -- down 3.2 percent -- announced Thursday that it had approved draft financial statements as of Dec. 31, 2022, reporting a major improvement in all key economic indicators and adjusted group net income of EUR58.3 million compared with EUR27.4 million in the same period last year.

Net sales in the period amounted to EUR1.07 billion, up 11 percent from EUR969.6 million as of December 31, 2021.

All major indicators of Danieli & C's half-year income statement-which in green by 0.6 percent is among the few bullish ones-improved at the end of the first half of the company's fiscal year, which ends on the last day of June.

Operating revenues grew 20 percent to EUR1.87 billion at the end of December 2022 from EUR1.56 billion in the same period last year.

On the Small-Cap, Tesmec -- up 0.1 percent -- approved its draft operating and consolidated 2022 budget on Friday, reporting revenues of EUR245.2 million up from EUR194.3 million in 2021.

Net income amounted to EUR7.9 million up sharply from the EUR1.2 million recorded in 2021.

Digital Bros finished at the bottom with a 9.2 percent decline after approving Thursday its half-year financial report as of Dec. 31, 2022, reporting revenues up 8.1 percent to EUR59.8 million from EUR55.3 million in the same period a year earlier.

Net income for the period amounted to EUR11.0 million from EUR10.4 million in the first six months of fiscal 2021-2022.

TXT e-solutions also hurt, in the red by 5.2 percent. The company announced Thursday that it has bought back 18,500 shares between Feb. 20 and Feb. 28, 2023.5fq2

The shares were taken over at an average price of EUR18.00 for a total value of EUR333,163.82.

Among SMEs, High Quality food did well, closing up 25 percent.

Pharmacosmo gave up 8.4 percent. On Thursday evening it announced that it had signed a binding agreement to acquire a 51 percent majority stake in Telepsicologia Srl, held 51 percent by Professor Marco Pacifico and 49 percent by CEPIB Formazione & Ricerca Srls.

Visibilia Editore lost 15 percent the day after it made it known that, yesterday, a hearing was held as part of the proceedings brought jointly by the shareholders against the directors and former members of the board of statutory auditors, with the intervention of BDO Italia Spa as auditor and with the participation of the company, in the person of the special receiver, Massimo Fabiani. During the hearing, it was acknowledged that the members of the board of directors had been replaced and, at the outcome of the discussion, the court reserved the decision as to the possible continuation-and the possible modalities of the proceedings.

Among Asian exchanges, the Nikkei closed down 1.1 percent, the Shanghai Composite up 1.2 percent while the Hang Seng is picking up 1.7 percent.

In New York on European night, the Dow closed down 1.1 percent, the Nasdaq down 1.8 percent, and the S&P 500 contracted 1.5 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0720 versus USD1.0658 at Friday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2109 from USD1.2045 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD82.93 per barrel versus USD81.92 per barrel Friday night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,873.69 an ounce from USD1,856.97 an ounce at Friday's close.

On Monday's economic calendar, at 1100 CET, the Eurogroup meeting will be held while at 1500 CET, three-, six- and 12-month BTF auctions will be held in France.

At 1600 CET, from the U.S. will come consumer inflation expectations and auctions of three- and six-month Treasury bills will be held.

On the Italian corporate front, the results of several listed companies including Assicurazioni Generali, Avio, CIR, Tod's and De' Longhi are expected.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

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