(Alliance News) - On Friday morning, major European stock markets are expected to rise on the back of improved risk appetite and on the heels of a strong performance by Asian stocks, while in the US Alphabet Inc and Microsoft Inc cashed in 12 percent and 4.4 percent in after hours trading after the release of their quarterly reports.

Investors, meanwhile, await the U.S. core PCE figure for March due out this afternoon. "The fear is of course to see a rise in inflation, which would further hurt the Fed's cut expectations," comments Ipek OzkardeskayaSenior Analyst at Swissquote Bank.

According to IG futures, therefore, the FTSE Mib is expected to be in the green 265.0 points or 0.8 percent after closing 1.0 percent in the red at 33,939.75.

London's FTSE 100 is expected up 67.4 points or 0.8 percent, Frankfurt's DAX 40 is given up 112.0 points or 0.6 percent, and Paris' CAC 40 rises 69.3 points or 0.9 percent.

Among Italy's smaller lists last night, the Mid-Cap gave up 0.5 percent to 46,395.65, the Small-Cap lost 0.5 percent to 28,284.08, and Italy Growth closed up 0.4 percent to 8,132.29.

Among the morning's macros, Tokyo's inflation, considered a leading indicator of Japan's overall inflation rate, fell below 2 percent in April, slowing to 1.8 percent from March's 2.6 percent increase.

Also in Japan, the Bank of Japan kept its ultra-low interest rates unchanged Friday and did not signal another hike, pushing the yen to a new 34-year low against the dollar. Friday morning the Japanese yen weakened to around USD156, reaching this level for the first time since May 1990.

Returning to Piazza Affari, on the Mib last night, BPER Banca did best of all, in the green by 1.9 percent. The company announced Tuesday the market launch of its sustainability linked loan, the new financing product designed to offer tangible support to all businesses pursuing predetermined and measurable sustainability goals.

Hera also did well, up 0.8 percent as did ERG. Shareholders, meeting Tuesday to approve the financial statements, also appointed board members. Joining the board are Edoardo Garrone, Alessandro Garrone, Giovanni Mondini, Paolo Luigi Merli, Luca Bettonte, Elisabetta Caldera, Federica Lolli, Marina Natale, Elisabetta Oliveri, Renato Pizzolla, Barbara Poggiali, and Daniela Toscani.

The shareholders then confirmed Edoardo Garrone as chairman of the company while the board, meeting after the meeting, chose Alessandro Garrone as vice chairman and director in charge of the internal control and risk management system. Giovanni Mondini was confirmed in the role of vice chairman while the CEO will be Paolo Luigi Merli.

The shareholders' meeting then authorized the board of directors to purchase a maximum of 15.0 million ordinary shares of ERG.

STMicroelectronics--in the green by 1.0%--reported Thursday that revenues and earnings fell double digits in the first quarter and that it expects revenues to decline further in the second quarter.

Revenues for the first three months fell to USD3.47 billion from EUR4.25 billion in Q1 2023, an annual decline of 18%, and from USD4.28 billion in Q4 2023, a quarterly decline of 19%.

Nexi, on the other hand, gave up 3.0%.

On the cadet segment, the shareholders of Credito Emiliano -- in the green by 0.3% -- appointed members of the new board of directors on Wednesday.

Joining the new board are Paola Agnese Bongini, Enrico Corradi, Giorgia Fontanesi, Mariaelena Fontanesi, Elisabetta Gualandri, Luigi Maramotti, Alessandro Merli, Ernestina Morstofolini, Edoardo Prezioso, Anna Chiara Svelto, Giovanni Filippo Emilio Viani and Lucio Igino Zanon di Valgiurata.

Credem's board of directors, which met at the end of the meeting, confirmed Lucio Igino Zanon di Valgiurata as chairman and Enrico Corradi and Luigi Maramotti as vice chairmen.

Webuild -- in the red by 1.0 percent -- reported Wednesday that it had acquired EUR5.5 billion in new orders since the beginning of the year at the end of March.

As the former Salini Impregilo explained, almost all of the new orders came from abroad, in markets such as Canada, the US, and Saudi Arabia. The significant order intake represents about 50 percent of the expected orders for the year 2024.

Added to this is a near-term commercial pipeline of more than EUR70 billion, fueled by the major investment plans launched in key markets monitored by the group, such as Central and Northern Europe, Australia, the U.S. and the Middle East.

The board of directors of Maire Tecnimont -- which finished in the green by 0.8 percent -- on Wednesday reviewed and approved the interim report for the year ended March 31. Net income was net to EUR46.6 million from EUR26.2 billion up 78 percent to 3.7 percent of revenues, up 100 basis points.

Revenues amounted to EUR1.3 billion, up from EUR957.9 billion, "mainly due to the progression of ongoing projects, including the advancement of engineering and procurement activities of the Hail and Ghasha project," spieha the company.

Among the smallcaps, SAES Getters--in the red by 0.3 percent--announced Wednesday that it had proceeded with the signing of a binding Share Purchase Agreement to acquire 100 percentof the share capital of FMB Feinwerk- und Meßtechnik, now owned by majority shareholder Uwe Schneck, minority shareholders Ingmar Lehmann and Jens Rekow, and the company Mardi Beteiligungs.

The agreed purchase price is EUR8 million.

Itway -- in the red by 5.1 percent -- on Wednesday reported that it closed 2023 with a pretax loss of EUR481,000 from one of EUR362,000 as of Dec. 31, 2022, while the net loss was EUR330,000 from one of EUR348,000.

Revenues in the period stood at EUR49.1 million from EUR46.7 million in 2022.

Elica--green by 1.9%--on Wednesday announced that it will start a new buyback plan from April 26 for a maximum number of shares that can be purchased equal to 1 million.

Among SMEs, Poligrafici Printing-which closed in the green by 6.6 percent-announced Wednesday that it closed 2023 with consolidated revenues of EUR24.1 million from EUR28.0 million as of December 31, 2022.

Ebitda stood at EUR4.9 million in 2023 from EUR6.1 million in the previous year.

Consolidated profit for the year was EUR1.5 million from EUR2.4 million in 2022. The company proposed to distribute a dividend of EUR0.03 per share from EUR0.0295 in 2022.

RedFish LongTerm Capital - up 2.9 percent - reported Wednesday that consolidated revenues for the first quarter amounted to EUR9.8 million, up significantly from the same period a year earlier, which reported consolidated revenues of EUR41,200.

Technoprobe - in the red by 1.3 percent - on Wednesday announced that it has appointed a delagate director in the person of Stefano Felici and vice-chairman Roberto Alessandro Crippa, who will act as deputy in the absence or disability of chairman Cristiano Alessandro Crippa.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 0.8 percent, the Shanghai Composite advanced 1.2 percent, and the Hang Seng was up 2.5 percent.

In New York, the Dow closed down 1.0 percent to 38,085.80, the Nasdaq gave up 0.6 percent to 15,611.76 and the S&P 500 finished down 0.5 percent to 5,048.42.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0728 from USD1.0717 on Thursday in closing European equities while the pound was worth USD1.2510 from USD1.2491 on Thursday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD89.51 a barrel from USD87.57 a barrel Thursday evening and gold trades at USD2,341.19 an ounce from USD2,346.10 an ounce Thursday evening.

Friday's macroeconomic calendar has at 0845 CEST the French consumer confidence index and at 0900 CEST come Spanish retail sales and the Spanish unemployment rate.

At 1000 CEST from the Eurozone comes the M3 money supply and private lending data.

Overseas, at 1430 CEST, it is the turn of the PCE index for the U.S. and the price index for core personal expenditures, while from Canada at the same time wholesale and manufacturing sales are released.

Among the companies listed in Piazza Affari, no particular announcements are expected.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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