(Alliance News) - On Friday, major European stock markets contravened expectations by opening in negative territory on the last trading day of the week and ahead of data on service sector performance in the Old Continent's major economies.

"European markets rallied sharply yesterday after the Bank of England and the European Central Bank both raised rates by 50bp, with the DAX closing at a new 11-month high and U.S. markets posting a strong session. While central banks would like to give the impression that they still have time to raise rates, markets are of the opposite view, assuming, rightly or wrongly, that we are close to a peak as far as rates are concerned and that, although they are not done yet, they are close, with bond yields falling sharply across the board," commented Michael Hewson, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets.

"The assumptions that have emerged over the past two days are certainly many, but this week's market price action tells a different story than what we have heard from all three central banks over the past two days. While the central banks are essentially saying that they are still waiting for a rate hike, the markets are saying that we don't believe you and that even if you raise again, you will have to cut again by the end of the year."

Thus, the FTSE Mib is in the red 0.6 percent at 26,9444.50, the Mid-Cap is down 0.4 percent at 44,281.86, the Small-Cap is in the green 0.1 percent at 29,975.01, while Italy Growth is in the fractional green at 9,546.32.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 gives up 0.7 percent, London's FTSE 100 is on the parity line, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is down 0.8 percent.

On the main list in Piazza Affari, Pirelli is at the top, in the green by 1.3 percent, followed by the banking sector with UniCredit still grinding out gains after the accounts and rising 1.2 percent and Intesa Sanpaolo in the green by 0.8 percent on the day when it is expected to publish its own.

Ferrari, after surging 7.3 percent in Thursday's close, gives up 1.8 percent the day after it reported its preliminary consolidated results for the fourth quarter and twelve months ended Dec. 31, 2022, reporting a full-year net profit of EUR939 million, up 13 percent from the previous year, when it amounted to EUR833 million. As for fourth-quarter net income, this stands at EUR221 million in 2022 from EUR214 million in fourth-quarter 2021.

CNH Industrial -- down 1.8 percent -- on Thursday released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 results, its first as a player in Agriculture and Construction, confirming that the board intends to recommend an annual dividend per share of EUR0.36. In the 12 months to Dec. 31, the group made a net profit of USD2.04 billion up from USD1.80 billion in 2021.

The company also announced that the board of directors has decided to delist from Euronext Milan and "that shareholders will benefit more from listing on the NYSE only," as the company explained in a note.

On the Mid-Cap, Webuild--up 0.3 percent--reported Friday that it had signed the agreement to purchase Clough, taking over EUR4 billion of backlog and securing 1,100 jobs.

The integration of Clough into Webuild will create a group that is among the largest players in Australia and among the most historic. The projects included in the acquisition scope are among the most important infrastructure projects under construction in Australia and Papua New Guinea, and the agreement reached between Deloitte and Webuild facilitates their delivery for the governments, local communities, and businesses involved.

Following the news given by Saras, which now trades in the red by 1.5 percent, on the funded collar transaction between ACM and Bank of Amercia, comes a clarifying note from both the fund and Angelo Moratti.

"The funded collar transaction in question between Angel Capital Management and BofA Securities Europe is in the nature of a financing transaction, with provision for a disbursement of a sum of money from BofASE to ACM as an interest-bearing loan and a collar derivative, for hedging purposes, involving a maximum of 47.6 million ordinary shares of Saras Spa. On Feb. 1, 2023, BofASE -in total autonomy from ACM-completed an accelerated book building transaction involving Saras shares for the purpose of hedging the long position taken under the collar," BofA specified.

Industrie De Nora gives up 2.3 percent. The company on Thursday reviewed preliminary data as of Dec. 31, letting it know it reported consolidated revenues of more than EUR850 million from EUR615.9 million in 2021 and marking a 38 percent increase.

On the Small-Cap, Risanamento is in the red by 0.5 percent, after the board of directors announced Thursday that it had reviewed preliminary results for 2022, whereby the company reported a net loss of EUR53.8 million from EUR24.9 million in the same period last year.

Geox -- up 2.7 percent -- shared preliminary results for the year 2022 on Thursday, reporting revenues of EUR735.5 million up 21 percent from EUR608.9 million in 2021. Net financial position as of December 31, 2022 is negative EUR49.8 million from minus EUR64.3 million as of December 31, 2021.

Bologna's Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi - up 0.5 percent - announced Thursday the consolidation of its partnership with Ryanair, which began in 2008 and was strengthened in 2016, is now confirmed with a six-year agreement.

Among SMEs, Confinvest - not yet affected by the exchanges - announced Thursday that it has signed a partnership with Fabrick - the first player created in Italy with the aim of fostering open banking - aimed at including Conto Lingotto in the services offered by Fabrick.

Convergenze gives up 1.7 percent. The company reported Tuesday that it ended 2022 with revenues of EUR28.2 million, up 53% from EUR18.4 million a year earlier.

In Asia, the Nikkei rose 0.4 percent today to 27,509.46, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.7 percent to 3,263.41, and the Hang Seng gave up 1.4 percent to 21,660.47.

In New York at Thursday's close, the Dow gave up 0.1 percent to 34,053.94, the Nasdaq rose 3.3 percent to 12,200.82 while the S&P 500 gained 1.5 percent to 4,179.76.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0887 versus USD1.0917 at Wednesday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2184 from USD1.2255 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD81.47 per barrel versus USD82.70 per barrel on Thursday evening. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,926.40 an ounce from USD1,919.70 an ounce last session.

On Friday's macroeconomic calendar, from 0945 CET, the services and composite PMIs for Italy, France, Germany and the Eurozone, in that order, and the UK are due.

Also coming in from the Eurozone at 1100 CET is the producer price index.

From the US, at 1430 CET, room for unemployment and nonfarm payrolls, at 1545 CET the manufacturing PMI will be known, and at 1900 CET the report from Baker Hughes on drilling rigs.

At 2130 CET, as usual on Friday, will come the COT Report.

Among companies, results from Intesa Sanpaolo are expected.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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