(Alliance News) - The major European stock markets close higher on Friday at the end of a week that was poor in corporate news but punctuated by the release of some important macroeconomic data.

In particular, the latest U.S. nonfarm payrolls report showed solid job growth in December, along with a drop in the unemployment rate to 3.5 percent.

In addition, jobs in the U.S. private sector increased at a slower pace in December than in the previous month, as released by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

The U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs in December, the lowest number since December 2020, after a downwardly revised 256,000 increase in November, with the figure exceeding market expectations by 200,000.

"The resilience of the numbers helps reinforce optimism that the U.S. economy will avoid a hard landing recession in the coming months and that what is good for the U.S. economy will also be good for the global economy," commented Michael Hewson, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets UK.

Thus, the FTSE Mib closes in the green by 1.4 percent at 25,180.35.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 finishes up 1.5 percent, London's FTSE 100 gains 0.9 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 picks up 1.2 percent.

Also in the afternoon came the US services PMI, which fell to 49.6 points in the final month of the year, indicating the first contraction in the services sector since May 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and well below market forecasts of 55.0 points. The figure compares with 56.5 points in November.

Among Italy's smaller lists, the Mid-Cap closes in the green by 0.6 percent at 40,865.91, the Small-Cap ends up 0.5 percent at 28,448.78, while Italy Growth closes up 0.2 percent at 9,409.37.

On the main list in Piazza Affari, Saipem pulls ahead of everyone and picks up 6.2 percent. The public group, controlled by Eni, "comes from a difficult year, after the correction on the order book, profit warnings and recapitalization, which, however, did not question the industrial value of a company that knows how to stay in the market," commented Francesco Bonazzi.

"In the coming months, somewhat for the whole sector, positive results are expected, after a 2022 that was certainly a very good year for the oil sector. For 2023, attentions on oil remain high, globally, first of all because of the expected recession and the possible drop in demand. At the European level we have to see what will happen with the embargo on refined products from Moscow that will be triggered on February 5," the expert concluded to Alliance News.

Stellantis ends up 0.7 percent. The company reaffirmed its commitment to grow its data and connected services offering by launching Mobilisights, a new independent business unit.

Its new offering, Mobilisights, is designed to grow the company's data as a service business and develop and license business-to-business products, applications and services.

The new unit will leverage Stellantis' connected vehicle data, which is expected to reach 34 million by 2030.

Hera closes in the green by 1.4 percent after announcing Thursday EUR150 million in district heating investments for the period 2023-2026.

Of these, three Hera Group projects dedicated to district heating--in Bologna, Ferrara, and Forlì--won funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, mission "Green Revolution and Ecological Transition," totaling nearly EUR50 million.

Terna ends up 2.1 percent after signing an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the capital of Edyna Transmission, an Alperia Group company dedicated to the transmission sector, which owns 34 km of high-voltage power lines and two power stations in South Tyrol.

The assets are already part of the national electricity transmission grid and were taken over by Terna for a total value of about EUR14 million. The deal is subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions precedent.

Only three bearish traders are DiaSorin, which gives up 0.6 percent, Mediobanca in the red by 0.1 percent, and Azimut, in fractional red.

On the Mid-Cap, Tinexta, Brembo, and Fincantieri take the podium, up between 2.5 percent and 2.3 percent.

PharmaNutra picks up 0.2 percent. The company announced the signing of three new international commercial agreements for the distribution of products from the SiderAL and Cetilar lines in the Indonesian Republic, Kuwait, and Mexico.

With the signing of these new contracts, PharmaNutra Group currently has 47 distributors in 70 countries across Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Carel Industries closes up 0.9 percent. The company on Wednesday made it known that it no longer qualifies as an "SME," Small and Medium Enterprise.

Same fate for CIR, in the green by 1.0 percent.

On the Small-Cap, algoWatt leads the list with a 21 percent rise, followed by Seri Industrial, in second with more than 11 percent.

Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi Di Bologna rises 0.3% after reporting that air traffic performance in 2022 has gradually improved since the spring with the end of the emergency phase and travel restrictions.

Specifically, at the Airport, monthly passenger figures went from minus 51 percent in January 2022 over January 2019 to plus 2.4 percent in June 2022 over June 2019, with figures rising throughout the summer season, then falling back in the last two months of the year.

Civitanavi Systems finishes in the black by 1.9 percent. The company announced that it has signed a ruling agreement with the Internal Revenue Service that will allow the company to have access to the Patent Box tax benefit for intellectual property for patents and know-how.

The tax benefit for the five-year period 2017-2021 will be accounted for in the fiscal year 2022 and the quantification will take place when the financial statements are prepared.

Among SMEs, Clabo remains in the high quarters and closes up 5.5 percent after announcing Wednesday that its U.S. subsidiary Howard McCray has concluded two commercial agreements worth a total of USD750,000, or EUR710,000, with 2 retail chains operating within the HoReCa channel.

At the top, however, are Neurosoft and Fenix Entertainment, which close up 33% and 21%.

Bifire gives up 4.2 percent. On Thursday it disclosed that it purchased 17,500 shares of its own common stock between Jan. 2 and Jan. 5.

The shares were taken over at an average price per unit of EUR2.6234, for a total value of just over EUR45,909.90.

In New York at the height of trading, the Dow Jones is in the green 1.6 percent to 33,466.86, the S&P picks up 1.5 percent to 3,865.76, and the Nasdaq is up 1.3 percent to 10,443.58.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0619 versus USD1.0525 at Thursday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2063 from USD1.1897 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD79.61 per barrel from USD78.14 per barrel last night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,862.74 an ounce from USD1,826.70 an ounce Thursday night.

On Monday's economic calendar, from Germany will come at 0800 CET the industrial production figure, followed at 0845 CET by the French trade balance.

At 1000 CET, in Italy, the monthly unemployment rate will come out, a figure that will also arrive an hour later from the Eurozone.

In the afternoon, the US is scheduled to hold a Treasury bond auction at 1730 CET.

On Monday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange will be closed for Coming of Age Day.

As for Piazza Affari, Brunello Cucinelli's results are expected.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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