(Alliance News) - On Wednesday, halfway through the trading session, the main European indices are in negative territory, with the Milan Stock Exchange falling to 42,300 points, marking the worst performance on the Old Continent.

Investors remained cautious in the wake of comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who on Tuesday drew attention to the risks still present in both the labor market and on the inflation front, while also pointing out that stock valuations are rather high.

Persistent geopolitical tensions, fueled by US President Donald Trump's statements regarding Russia, also contributed to the climate of uncertainty.

As a result, the FTSE Mib is down 0.4% to 42,313.24, the Mid-Cap is up 0.2% to 56,951.92, the Small-Cap is down 0.3% to 36,366.73, while the Italy Growth is up fractionally to 8,598.52.

The FTSE 100 in London is down 0.1%, the CAC 40 in Paris is down 0.3%, and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt is down 0.2%.

On the macroeconomic front, Spanish producer prices fell in August, dragged down by lower electricity and gas costs, according to data from the National Statistics Institute.

Returning to Milan, on the Piazza Affari's highest capitalization index, only nine stocks are in positive territory at mid-session. Leonardo leads the bulls, advancing 3.1% to EUR52.16 per share with nearly 2.3 million shares changing hands.

The company, together with Poste Italiane - down 0.2% - has signed an agreement to develop secure and innovative logistics solutions based on cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

The agreement also covers physical and IT security, joint strategic projects, welfare initiatives, and financial services for employees.

Enel, up 0.3%, announced on Wednesday that its subsidiary Enel Finance International had launched a multi-tranche bond aimed at institutional investors in the US and international markets for a total amount of USD 4.5 billion, equivalent to approximately EUR 3.8 billion.

The issue, guaranteed by Enel, received oversubscribed requests for approximately three times the amount, with total orders amounting to approximately USD 14.4 billion, as explained by the company in a statement. This is the largest placement in 2025 by a European utility.

At the bottom of the main index are Banca Monte Paschi di Siena, down 2.0%, Mediobanca, down 2.2%, and Stellantis, down 3.5%.

On the Mid-Cap, Fincantieri leads the junior index at the halfway point with a 5.4% gain to EUR21.54 per share. During Wednesday's trading, it hit a new high of EUR21.66, bringing its year-to-date gains to over 360%.

MAIRE - up 1.6% - announced on Tuesday that NextChem has opened a new office in Abu Dhabi to promote the energy transition in the Middle East.

The group is also active in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman with other strategic initiatives.

Banco di Desio e della Brianza fell 2.3%. The bank announced that it had received notification from the Bank of Italy of its decision on minimum capital requirements and eligible liabilities.

Specifically, Banco Desio will have to comply with a consolidated MREL in terms of TREA (Total Risk Exposure Amount) of 17.81%, excluding the CBR (Combined Buffer Requirement), previously 17.76%.

In addition, it will have to comply with an MREL in terms of LRE (Leverage Ratio Exposure) of 5.34%, previously 5.33%.

The merger between Rai Way - down 1.2% - and EI Towers has been postponed: the agreement will not be finalized by September and the horizon has shifted to spring 2026.

The project aims to create a national champion of TV towers worth EUR4 billion, with 4,700 sites and over half a billion in revenues, but the issue of debt and governance remains, the newspaper continues.

At the bottom of the secondary market is Piaggio & C., which is trading down 4.0% at mid-session.

On the Small-Cap index, Zest fell 7.7% after announcing that it had closed the first half of the year with a loss of EUR 330,000, down from a profit of EUR 7.7 million on June 30, 2024.

Revenues for the six months stood at EUR 4.3 million, down from EUR 4.9 million in the first half of 2024.

SS Lazio fell 3.3%. On Monday evening, the company approved its consolidated financial statements for the period ended June 30, which show a net loss of EUR 17.2 million, a sharp deterioration compared to the profit of EUR 38.5 million recorded on June 30, 2024. The result marks a reversal of fortune, with a 145% decline on an annual basis.

The value of production stood at EUR 143.5 million, down by approximately EUR 49.7 million compared to the previous year. The change is mainly attributable to lower revenues from participation in the Europa League, compared to the more lucrative Champions League of the previous season.

Trevi Finanziaria Industriale advanced 2.3% and recorded the highest trading value on the stock exchange.

Among the SMEs with the highest trading value at mid-session, Novamarine rose 0.9%.

Directa SIM - down 0.8% - announced on Wednesday that director Mario Fabbri had resigned from the company's board of directors, where he had no executive powers.

Lindbergh rose 3.1%. On Tuesday, the company announced that it had closed the first half of the year with a net profit of EUR 1.1 million, up 36% from EUR 812,000 as of June 30, 2024.

Total consolidated revenues amounted to EUR15.8 million, up 51% from EUR10.2 million in the first half of 2024.

Masi Agricola - not affected by trading - announced on Wednesday that it had signed a medium- to long-term loan agreement for a total amount of EUR 40 million, which provides for a ten-year repayment plan with a final installment - the balloon - of approximately EUR 10.0 million.

Riba Mundo Tecnologia fell 2.4%. On Tuesday, the company announced that its consolidated loss for the first half of the year amounted to approximately EUR 25.9 million, of which EUR 23.3 million related to Riba Mundo and EUR 2.6 million to ePrice IT.

The company explained in a statement that the result was due to the fire that struck the warehouse in Valencia on January 25.

Among the stocks at the bottom of the alternative listing is Next Geosolutions Europe, down 2.5%, which released its first-half results, closing with a net profit of EUR 25.4 million, up 21% from EUR 21.1 million as of June 30, 2024. Sales revenues fell 46% to EUR 103.7 million from EUR 190.8 million in the period between January and June 2024.

In New York, the Dow Jones lost 0.2%, the Nasdaq fell 1.0%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.6%.

In Asia, the Nikkei advanced 0.3%, the Hang Seng gained 1.4%, and the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.8%.

On the currency front, the euro is trading at USD 1.1767 from USD 1.1797 at Tuesday evening's stock market close, while the pound is trading at USD 1.3476 from USD 1.3524 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude traded at USD67.92 per barrel, up from USD67.73 per barrel at yesterday evening's stock market close, while gold was worth USD3,797.32 per ounce, up from USD3,772.11 per ounce on Tuesday.

In Thursday's economic calendar, US mortgage data will be released at 1300 CEST, while US construction data will be released at 1430 CEST.

Also in the US, attention will shift to commodities at 1630 CEST, and Mary Daly, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, is scheduled to speak at 2210 CEST.

By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter

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