(Alliance News) - European stock markets Thursday appear to be leaning toward a bullish opening, with investors appearing unperturbed by the latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes.

"Last night's Fed minutes did not communicate much to markets that had not already been inferred given the recent comments by Mester and Bullard last week," Hewson commented.

Since the February meeting, presidents James Bullard of St Louis and Loretta Mester of Cleveland said they were among the group that wanted a more aggressive move at the meeting concluded Feb. 1. Although the 25-basis-point rate increase was widely agreed upon, the minutes showed that "a few" members said they wanted a half-point increase, or 50 basis points, which would have shown an even greater determination to reduce inflation.

"What they did show, however, is that there was a significant appetite for a 50 basis point rate increase by some FOMC members before they decided on the more gradual option of a 25 basis point rate increase," Hewson added.

In corporate news, Eni reported Thursday that net income for 2022 more than doubled year-on-year to EUR13.81 billion from EUR5.82 billion a year earlier.

In the fourth quarter alone, however, there was an 84 percent decline, with net income falling to EUR550 million from EUR3.52 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Adjusted net income -- which excludes special items and inventory result -- marks an increase in the full year, to EUR13.31 billion from EUR4.33 billion, and in the fourth quarter, to EUR2.50 billion from EUR1.70 billion.

Thus, the FTSE Mib, after closing down 1.1 percent at 27,101.53.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 rises 15.00 points, Paris' CAC 40 rises 23.20 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 advances 71.00 points.

Among the smaller listings on Wednesday evening, the Mid-Cap closed down 0.8 percent to 44,072.24, the Small-Cap gave up 1.1 percent to 29,707.77, and Italy Growth finished 0.5 percent in the red to 9,521.44.

Taking the top spot on the Mib on Wednesday evening was Telecom Italia -- in the green by 2.8 percent -- which on Tuesday evening announced, with reference to its indicative and non-binding offer, that it had received a letter from KKR in which it extended the deadline for that offer to March 24. Specifically, according to the letter, the extension of the deadline is due to a request by the government to have an additional four weeks to conduct a joint analysis of the public aspects of the transaction concerning the powers that can be exercised by the government in the sector.

Stellantis, after the data release, closed in the green by 2.2 percent. Both the company's revenues and net income posted double-digit increases in FY2022, the carmaker formed from the merger of FCA and PSA Groupe disclosed Wednesday. Revenues increased to EUR179.6 billion from EUR149.4 billion a year earlier or EUR152.1 billion pro forma from the previous year. Net income rose 26 percent to EUR16.78 billion in 2022 from EUR13.22 billion a year earlier or EUR13.35 billion pro forma.

In addition, the board Wednesday approved a share buyback program of up to EUR1.5 billion, to be executed in the market for the purpose of "cancelling the ordinary shares acquired through the share buyback program," the company explains.

Campari is also in the black, up 1.3 percent. The company reported Tuesday that it ended 2022 with double-digit sales and earnings growth over the previous year.

The banking sector went down en bloc, with FinecoBank trailing with a 4.8% decline, along with BPER Bank down 4.4%, UniCredit down 2.7%, and Intesa Sanpaolo down 3.0%.

Also going down was oil Tenaris, down 3.1%.

On the cadet segment, Fincantieri -- down 2.7 percent -- announced Wednesday that it had signed a cooperation agreement with Abu Dhabi Ship Building, a subsidiary of EDGE Group, a leader in the design, construction, repair, maintenance, refitting and conversion of military and commercial ships.

Enav closed in the green by 1.0 percent after reporting that it won 15 projects by obtaining EUR4.5 million in research funding, out of a total investment of EUR350 million from the aeronautics industry and the European Union, through the Horizon Europe funding program.

Anima Holding, which approved the draft financial statements and announced that it confirmed the results released on Feb. 6 by reporting a net profit of EUR120.8 million, down 49 percent from EUR238.7 million in 2021, gave up 2.1 percent.

Group net inflows in 2022 were positive EUR1.6 billion from EUR2.4 billion in the previous year, including Branch I insurance proxies; total assets under management at the end of December 2022 were over EUR177 billion.

Carel Industries--in the red by 0.4 percent--reported Tuesday that it has signed a binding agreement to take over the entire capital of Eurotec, a distributor and systems integrator based in Auckland, New Zealand.

On the Small-Cap segment, Caleffi reported its preliminary consolidated results for 2022 on Wednesday, reporting revenues of about EUR59.2 million, down 3.0 percent from the final EUR60.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2021. The stock closed down 6.8 percent.

Ebitda was higher at EUR6 million, up about 10 percent, compared to EUR8.0 million as of Dec. 31, 2021.

The board of directors of Il Sole 24 ORE - down 1.6 percent - on Tuesday approved the 2023-2026 Business Plan, which confirms steady and sustainable growth for the group through the digitization of products and processes, internationalization, and continued brand enhancement.

Revenue and margin growth is also confirmed in the changing geopolitical, economic and market environment. In detail, the company expects revenues of EUR250 million, Ebitda of EUR44 million and Ebit at EUR23 million.

Among SMEs, Circle closed 1.7 percent in the red, after announcing Tuesday that the 'Port Community Services' on offer was selected by a major Mediterranean port.

This order, with a duration of four years and worth more than EUR290,000, is in addition to two others obtained in January and destined for leading international players in port logistics, "a market in which Circle is putting its experience to significant use," as the company explained in a note.

Vimi Fasteners lost 15 percent after reviewing on Tuesday its main consolidated pre-consolidated figures as of December 31, 2022, and reporting revenues of EUR53.4 million, up 11 percent from EUR47.9 million in the same period last year.

In New York--on European overnight--the Dow closed 0.3 percent in the red, the Nasdaq up 0.1 percent, and the S&P 500 contracted 0.2 percent.

Among Asian exchanges, the Hang Seng is giving up 0.3 percent, while the Shanghai Composite gave up 0.1 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0619 against USD1.0628 at Tuesday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2067 from USD1.2069 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD80.68 per barrel versus USD81.29 per barrel on Wednesday night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,831.95 an ounce from USD1,843.15 an ounce at Wednesday's close.

On Thursday's macroeconomic calendar, the morning begins at 1100 CET in Europe with Eurozone inflation data.

At 1200 CET the result of the composite monitoring of distribution transactions in the UK is expected.

In the afternoon, overseas, at 1430 CET data on continuing unemployment claims, the PCE index of core prices, GDP data and real consumer spending are published.

At 1700 CET it is the turn of data on crude oil stocks.

Among the companies listed in Piazza Affari, the results of Alkemy, Autostrade Meridionali, A2A, doValue, IGD - Real Estate Large Distribution and MeglioQuesto are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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