(Alliance News) - Stock markets are projected to open bullish for the final session of the week, according to futures on the IG platform. Investors are confident that an agreement to raise the U.S. debt ceiling will be reached to avoid a default, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggesting that a potential deal could come as early as next week.

Among macro data, consumer prices in Japan rose 3.4 percent year-on-year in April, in line with market expectations, according to government data released Friday. The figure, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, follows the 3.1 percent increase recorded in both March and February.

Isabel Schnabel - a member of the European Central Bank's board - will speak at the Financial Stability and Monetary Policy Conference in London, with the Eurotower giving no hint about a possible suspension, let alone cut, of interest rate cuts.

Thus, the FTSE Mib marks a bullish reading of 95.00 points, after closing up 0.1 percent at 27,235.650 last night.

Among the smaller listings last night, the Mid-Cap closed up 0.1 percent to 43,117.15, the Small-Cap closed down slightly to 27,942.01, and Italy Growth finished in the red 0.3 percent to 9,105.58.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is advancing 19.00 points, the CAC 40 is advancing 26.00 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 has a positive reading of 57.10 points.

Last night on the Mib, Saipem -- in the green by 3.3 percent -- announced Thursday that it had been awarded two new offshore contracts, one for an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation project in the Black Sea and one for decommissioning activities in the North Sea. The total value of the contracts is about USD850 million.

Only STMicroelectronics did better, which finished up 3.5 percent.

Also doing well was Stellantis, which closed up 3.3 percent after announcing Wednesday that sales in April increased, following the positive trend in the performance of the European market, where registrations grew 17 percent.

As shown Wednesday by data from ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, the merged giant of PSA Groupe and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles recorded an 8.2 percent increase in sales in April, having registered 169,022 cars compared to 156,167 in February 2022, with market share, however, falling to 17.5 percent from 18.8 percent in 2022.

Mediobanca -- in the green by 0.9 percent -- on Thursday signed a strategic agreement with Arma Partners LLP and US Arma Partners LP strengthening itself in the Digital Economy. Under the terms of the deal, Mediobanca will acquire Arma to create a leading Digital Economy franchise within its Corporate & Investment Banking division.

Eni - in the red by 0.4 percent - disclosed Wednesday that on May 12 it purchased 980,441 of its own shares. The shares were taken over at an average price per share of EUR13.3065, for a total value of EUR13.0 million.

On the Mid-Cap, Tamburi Investment Partners - in the green by 0.1 percent - announced that on Thursday it acquired 50.7 percent of Investindesign Spa, a company that currently holds 48.7 percent of the capital of Italian Design Brands Spa, whose shares have been listed since this morning on Euronext Milan, a regulated market organized and managed by Borsa Italiana Spa.

MFE's A and B shares were the best on the list, with rises of 7.3 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, Salcef Group and Ascopiave were bad, closing 3.1 percent and 2.3 percent in the red.

On the Small-Cap, SIT closed 10 percent in the red after approving Thursday its results as of March 31, 2023 reporting consolidated revenues of EUR83.6 million down 11 percent from EUR93.8 million in the first quarter of 2022.

On the other side of the list is Itway, which finished on top with 6.1%. The company on Friday disclosed that as of March 31, the group's operating revenues amounted to EUR10.7 million, increased from the same period last year to EUR9.4 million, due to the good performance of 4Science and Itway and the maintenance of revenues and increased profitability of the Greek and Turkish subsidiaries.

Cellularline-paring at EUR2.93 per share-announced the creation of an operating hub in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai, in order to better serve the Middle East area, drastically reducing delivery times, facilitating operations and improving service quality.

Among SMEs, Prismi closed up 62 percent. On Wednesday evening it disclosed that the board of directors accepted a binding proposal for investment in the company received from Medigest SA, Area 62 Srl and Tendercapital Alternative Funds PLC. Consequently, discussions related to its execution have been initiated.

Italian Design Brands finished in the green by 2.9 percent. The company landed on Thursday on the Milan Stock Exchange after a EUR70 million IPO that would reach EUR80.5 million if the over-allotment is exercised. The free float is about 24 percent, with market capitalization of the Italian furniture and quality design hub being EUR293 million.

Italia Independent did well, closing up 25 percent.

Innovatec closed 4.0% in the red after announcing Thursday that the sub-holding company Haiki+ Srl, active in the environment and circular economy business, has obtained permits from the relevant provincial authorities for the construction of a plant for plasterboard waste treatment and recovery activities at the group's plant located in Lodi and for the expansion of the non-hazardous industrial waste plant located in Albonese.

Ilpra finished in a tie. On Thursday, it announced that it had acquired a 68 percent stake in IDM Automotion. The transaction involves the purchase, in full from Domenico Cicchetti and Gianpietro Migliorini and for a 19 percent stake from Marco Cicchetti, of a total stake equal to 68 percent of the share capital for a consideration of approximately EUR1.5 million, which was paid in cash today through the use of available financial resources.

In New York, the Dow rallied 0.3 percent, the Nasdaq 1.5 percent while the S&P 500 advanced 0.9 percent.

Among Asian exchanges, the Hang Seng is giving up 1.2 percent, the Shaghai Composite is down 0.4 percent while the Nikkei has rallied 0.8 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0780 versus USD1.0777 at Thursday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2417 from USD1.2425 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD76.49 per barrel versus USD76.04 per barrel on Thursday evening. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,965.09 an ounce from USD1,955.41 last night.

On Friday's macroeconomic calendar, the Spanish consumer confidence index will be released at 1300 CEST.

At 1700 CEST, a speech by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is expected, while at 2100 CEST ECB President Christine Lagarde will speak.

In Piazza Affari, the results of Lifestyle Group, Olidata and Innovatec are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News senior reporter

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