(Alliance News) - European stock markets are continuing the day on a positive note, although the markets' attention remains focused on the trade strategies adopted by the US.
Investors are acting with great caution, refraining from taking bold initiatives as they weigh President Trump's statements and the risk of an escalation in trade disputes.
The US president said he wants to impose a 50% tariff on copper imports, a higher percentage than expected. He also warned that, despite recent progress on a trade agreement with the EU, his dissatisfaction with the EU's taxes and sanctions on US technology companies could prompt him to introduce a new tariff within the next 48 hours.
As a result, the FTSE Mib is up 1.4% at 40,754.50 points.
The CAC 40 in Paris is up 1.3%, the DAX 40 in Frankfurt is up 1.1%, while the FTSE 100 in London is up 0.3%.
Among the smaller indices, the Mid-Cap is up 1.3% at 55,503.68, the Small-Cap is up 0.5% at 32,453.47, and the Italy Growth is up fractionally at 8,268.41 points.
On the Mib, Azimut had a good session, rising 4.9% to €29.12, its third session of gains. The company announced on Tuesday that net inflows in June stood at €1.45 billion, bringing the total since the beginning of the year to €9.01 billion.
This result, the company explained, corresponds to 90% of its annual target of over EUR10.0 billion. At the end of June, the group's total assets stood at EUR112.83 billion, up 4.9% compared to the end of 2024.
UniCredit, up 3.4%, announced that, after receiving all necessary legal and regulatory approvals, including those from the European Central Bank, the German Federal Competition Authority, and the Federal Reserve, it has converted approximately 10% of its synthetic position in Commerzbank into shares, bringing its shareholding and related effective voting rights to approximately 20%.
UniCredit intends to convert the remaining synthetic position of approximately 9% into shares at the appropriate time, reaching approximately 29% of the voting rights in Commerzbank, as explained by the company in a statement.
Prysmian, on the other hand, rose 3.6% to EUR61.74 per share, in its fourth session as a bull.
Moncler is down 1.0%. It should be noted that AQR Capital Management has increased its short position on the stock to 0.50% from 0.49% previously.
Leonardo is down 0.3%, reversing course after four bullish candles. The company announced on Wednesday that it had acquired 100% of Swedish company Axiomatics.
The transaction expands Leonardo's offering with a key component for a comprehensive Zero Trust offering, the cybersecurity model according to which trust is never implicit and every access to the system, network, and data must be constantly verified, as the company explained in a statement.
On the Mid-Cap, Alerion raised the bar by 4.6% to EUR22.75, after hitting a new 52-week high of EUR22.95 per share during trading.
Banca Ifis, up 4.4%, 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.
The transaction is part of the EUR5 billion EMTN issuance program.
Piaggio is down 1.3% to EUR1.92 per share, after gaining 1.2% the previous day.
d'Amico is down 0.6%, after two bullish sessions with a price of around EUR3.53 per share.
On the Small-Cap market, Fidia is up 7.0% to EUR0.365, rebounding after four sessions of decline.
Itway is also up 7.0% to EUR1.38 per share, after yesterday's 1.2% decline.
Safilo rose 5.6% after gaining more than 13% on Tuesday, bringing the price to EUR1.09.
Seco, up 4.8%, 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.
With over 150 AI/ML applications already available at launch, the Hub enables companies to accelerate the adoption of advanced applications for computer vision, audio analysis, and voice interaction, as well as any other type of data-driven service across a wide range of industries, including industrial automation, medical, smart mobility, and retail.
Among the many bearish stocks is I Grandi Viaggi, which is down 3.1% to €2.19 per share, on track for its fifth bearish session.
Among SMEs, Innovatec is up 9.0%, on its fifth bullish session.
eVISO - up 1.0% - announced on Wednesday 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.
The project has been released to all eVISO employees, who can now natively use the suggestions of this internally developed AI agent in their everyday tools.
Officina Stellare - flat at EUR14.80 - announced on Wednesday the signing of a new contract with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the supply of a complete optical ground station for time distribution applications for the future second-generation European GPS satellite navigation constellation "Galileo," part of the OpSTAR project.
The contract will have a duration of 18 months and a total value of approximately EUR2.5 million, of which 60% will be paid by 2025, with the remaining 40% to be paid during 2026.
In New York, during European trading hours, the Dow Jones fell 0.4%, the S&P fell 0.1%, while the Nasdaq closed just above par.
In Asia, the Nikkei rose 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 1.1716 from USD 1.1695 at Tuesday's close, while the pound traded at USD 1.3596 from USD 1.3551 on Tuesday evening.
Among commodities, Brent crude oil traded at USD 70.38 per barrel, up from USD 69.84 at the previous close, while gold was worth USD 3,291.92 per ounce, down from USD 3,294.18 on Tuesday.
On Wednesday's economic calendar, at 1300 CEST, the US will release its mortgage market report, while at 1600 CEST, crude oil inventories, weekly EIA inventories, and Cushing inventories will be released.
At 8:00 p.m. CEST, the minutes of the latest FOMC meeting are expected.
By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News Reporter
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