(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari is expected to rise slightly in early trading Wednesday on a day when traders' eyes are on the release of U.S. inflation data.

The FTSE Mib is given up 42.5 points or 0.1 percent after losing 0.1 percent to 34,524.70 at Tuesday's close.

London's FTSE 100 is expected to be in the red by 24.2 points or 0.3 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is indicated to be essentially flat, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is expected to be down 8.2 points or less than 0.1 percent.

In Milan last night, the Mid-Cap rose 0.4 percent to 48,255.17, the Small-Cap gave up 0.2 percent to 28,422.61, and the Italy Growth fell 0.2 percent to 7,782.11.

On the highest-capitalization list in Piazza Affari, Eni lost 0.7 percent said Tuesday that it is too early to speculate on the causes behind the explosion at a company plant in Calenzano, in the province of Florence.

"Regarding the multiple hypotheses of the first hour that are emerging regarding the dynamics and causes of the accident, Eni confirms that it is cooperating closely with the judicial authority to identify as soon as possible, in a rigorous manner through the appropriate and thorough technical verifications, the real causes of the explosion, the nature of which it is absolutely premature to speculate."

Telecom Italia rose 0.2 percent to EUR0.2429. On the stock, BofA raised its target price to EUR0.37 from EUR0.35 while Barclays upgraded it to 'overweight' from 'equal weight', with a target price of EUR0.32.

Stellantis -- up 1.0% -- announced a business plan for the future of Italian factories, proposing a pact with component companies to tackle the green transition together.

Jean-Philippe Imparato, head of Stellantis' Europe division, said Italy is central to the group's strategy, with Mirafiori at the center of production. The plant will continue to produce the Fiat 500, including the hybrid in 2025 and the new electric generation in 2032-33, with an estimated increase of 100,000 cars.

Meanwhile, Tim Kuniskis, longtime Marchionne-era manager, returns to Stellantis to take over the Ram Truck brand, a few months after his retirement in May.

Enel rose 0.2 percent to EUR6.9360. Endesa CEO and vice chairman Flavio Cattaneo increased the total value of his holdings of shares in the two companies to about EUR32.0 million.

Generali -- in the red by 0.5 percent -- took over Palazzo Carciotti in Trieste, the historic insurance headquarters, for EUR13.2 million.

Snam, down 0.2 percent, announced Tuesday the signing of a new Sustainability-linked revolving credit facility for a total amount of EUR4.00 billion, with an option to increase to EUR1.10 billion.

Mediobanca Private Banking, a division of the Mediobanca Group -- up 0.2 percent -- raised EUR484.0 million for an innovative real estate co-investment program developed in collaboration with Mediobanca SGR and UBS Asset Management, Il Sole 24 Ore reported Tuesday.

At the bottom of the basket, Leonardo wiped out its opening gains and gave up 1.2 percent after finishing Monday's session in the red by 4.8 percent. The possible cut announced by President-elect Trump to military aid for Ukraine weighed on the stock.

The Antitrust Authority fined Hera -- down 0.4 percent -- for nearly EUR2.0 million and ComoCalor for EUR286,600 "for the application of excessively burdensome prices in the district heating sector," as specified in a press release issued by the authority.

Between May and June 2023, the Antitrust Authority had initiated three proceedings, concerning the networks of Ferrara - managed by Hera -, Como - under ComoCalor - and Parma and Piacenza, managed instead by Iren Energia. In these cases, the authority wrote, "a large part of the heat comes from sources other than natural gas," such as "from waste combustion in Como, waste combustion and geothermal energy in Ferrara."

On the Mid-Cap, Anima Holding rose 1.0 percent at the end of the session after the Caltagirone group increased its stake from 3.2 percent to 5.3 percent, consolidating Italian control over the asset management company that administers EUR205.2 billion.

Fincantieri - in the red by 0.1% - announced the relaunch of its Foundation with new missions, including defense of cultural heritage, innovation and social inclusion, renewing its board of directors.

OVS - up 0.5 percent - submitted a bid to take over Conbipel, a historic clothing chain with 130 stores and about 800 employees.

Still buying for Digital Value, up 12 percent and in its sixth straight session among the bullish, continuing the positive performance of the past 30 days.

On the Small-Cap, Beghelli's flight continued, up 42% to EUR0.3290 per share. Gewiss announced Tuesday that it had entered into a preliminary purchase and sale agreement with the Beghelli family, committing to purchase a 75% stake in the company's share capital.

Olidata did well, up 4.8 percent, with the stock at 30-day highs.

At the bottom, EPH tumbled 30 percent and doValue lost 12 percent.

Among SMEs, ESI rose 10 percent. The stock thus brings to positive performance over the past 30 days, attempting a recovery after falling 11% in the past six months and 31% in the past year.

Among the bullish performers, UCapital24 gained 9.2 percent.

Circle, down 1.0 percent, announced the signing of a grant agreement for the eFTI4ALL project, a major European initiative to improve the digitization of freight transport with the aim of facilitating the implementation of the eFTI regulation.

In Asia, the Nikkei is essentially flat at 39,372.23, the Shanghai Composite rises 0.3 percent to 3,432.49, and the Hang Seng drops 0.7 percent to 20,163.09.

In New York, the Dow closed Tuesday down 0.4 percent to 44,247.83, the Nasdaq lost 0.3 percent to 19,687.24 and the S&P 500 gave up 0.3 percent to 6,034.91.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0514 from USD1.0507 in Tuesday's European stock close. The pound is worth USD1.2753 versus USD1.2744 on Tuesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD72.72 per barrel from USD72.05 per barrel at Tuesday's close. Gold trades at USD2,695.61 an ounce from USD2,687.65 an ounce last night.

Wednesday's economic calendar calls for a European morning unloaded from a macro perspective, with only the UK 10-year Gilt auctions taking center stage, at 1100 CET.

After U.S. mortgage data, due out at 1300 CET, all eyes will be on U.S. inflation, coming in at 1430 CET, the main catalyst of the week along with the European Central Bank decision, however, coming on Thursday.

At 1630 CET, focus on U.S. crude oil stocks while, at 2000 CET, attention will shift to the last relevant data of the day, the Federal Reserve's balance sheet.

Among the companies in Piazza Affari, the results of AbitareIn are expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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