(Alliance News) - European stock markets marked a slightly bearish path Thursday after key central bank number ones took a decidedly "aggressive" tone at the event held by the European Central Bank Wednesday in Sintra, Portugal.

"The speeches of the leading central bankers had the same background music. Jerome Powell of the Federal Reserve, Andrew Bailey of the Bank of England and Christine Lagarde of the European Central Bank agreed that their fight against inflation is not yet over , and that further rate hikes are on the agenda," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

Powell said at the Sintra event that the U.S. central bank is leaving open the possibility of consecutive interest rate hikes in the coming months. The Fed recently suspended its rate hike cycle after 10 consecutive hikes to give officials more time to assess the effects of previous moves on inflation.

However, Powell stressed at the conference that the Fed believes there is "further tightening coming." "Policy has not been tight enough for long enough," he added.

The FTSE Mib is slightly down after closing up 0.9 percent at 27,637.46 last night.

The Mid-Cap gained 0.9 percent to 42,320.05 last night, the Small-Cap rose 0.3 percent to 26,711.72, and Italy Growth finished up 0.2 percent to 9,033.79.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 gives up 5.80 points, Paris' CAC 40 is just below par, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 gives up 5.50 points.

On the highest-capitalization list in Piazza Affari last night, Iveco Group lost 0.5 percent after Francesco Tanzi made it known that he will leave his role as the company's chief financial officer and take a new position in another industry sector by the end of the third quarter of this year.

The search process to identify the person who will succeed Tanzi has already begun, Iveco explains, with the prospect of filling the position by the end of this interim period.

Eni rose 0.4 percent after reporting that Eni Sustainable Mobility and PBF Energy announced the closing of their 50/50 joint venture, St. Bernard Renewables, for a biorefinery that is already operational in PBF's Chalmette, Louisiana, U.S. refinery area.

PBF contributed the assets of the SBR biorefinery, while Eni Sustainable Mobility committed to a capital contribution of USD835 million of which USD431 million was paid at closing.

In addition, Eni disclosed that it purchased 6.9 million of its own shares between June 19 and June 23. The shares were taken over at an average unit price of EUR12.9123, for a total consideration of EUR89.7 million.

Best performer on the list was Telecom Italia, which closed up 3.5 percent, with 148.1 million shares traded.

On the Mid-Cap, Credito Emiliano rose 2.9 percent after Jefferies upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'hold,' with a target price of EUR8.90.

Controlling Credemtel, meanwhile, signed an agreement with Relatech -- up 0.4 percent among SMEs -- to manage cybersecurity services for its own and the banking group's customers through ReSOC, the proprietary cybersecurity services and solutions asset of the Relatech ecosystem.

The partnership agreement is the result in a long selection process that Credemtel started about two years ago aimed at identifying and selecting the best partner with high know-how and expertise in cybersecurity that could integrate with Credemtel's cyber expertise.

Maire Tecnimont gained 2.5 percent. The company appointed independent nonexecutive director Isabella Maria Nova as a new member of the compensation committee. In addition, Maire's board appointed independent nonexecutive director Cristina Finocchi Mahne as a new lead independent director, effective today.

Among small-cap companies, Conafi rose 1.6 percent after the board reported that it renewed the appointment of Nunzio Chiolo as managing director and investor relator. The board also gave some nonexecutive powers to chairman Raffaele Borriello.

Mittel closed up 7.6 percent after finalizing the sale of its entire 60 percent majority stake in the share capital of Zaffiro Group for a consideration of EUR42 million.

The transaction was finalized through sale to Sarafin Spa and funds named "Eurizon Iter" as well as "Eurizon Iter Eltif" managed by Eurizon Capital SGR.

The sale transaction will result for Mittel in the recognition on the separate financial statements of a gross capital gain of EUR28.5 million and the recognition on the consolidated financial statements of a positive income impact pertaining to the group estimated at around EUR45.6 million.

Mondo TV flew with 14 percent. The shareholders' meeting of Squirrel Media gave the go-ahead for the acquisition of Mondo TV's entire stake in Mondo TV Studios, amounting to about 75 percent.

As a result of this transaction, Mondo TV becomes a minority shareholder in the Spanish group when the deal is finalized in July. The valuation taken into account to calculate the exchange price was EUR0.31 per Mondo TV Studios share and EUR3.20 per Squirrel share.

In addition, Mondo TV Suisse will be merged with Mondo TV France as part of a reorganization of the TV group. Shares of the former gained 1.1 percent while those of the latter rose 1.7 percent on Italy Growth.

Also among SMEs, BFC Media did not trade. On Tuesday evening the CEO, Marco Forlani, resigned for unforeseen personal reasons, resigning all the proxies assigned to him.

The resignation takes effect at midnight on July 10, 2023, and follows his resignation from the board of directors of L'Espresso Media, which was communicated to the company in recent weeks.

Italia Independent Group slumped 7.7 percent after it reported that it closed 2022 with a net loss of EUR9.7 million, down from a net loss of EUR11.3 million a year earlier.

Revenues dropped 36 percent to EUR3.6 million from EUR5.5 million a year earlier while gross margin, at EUR2.2 million, increased significantly compared to the previous year, "as the latter period was affected by the write-down of costs related to advertising space to be used for the communication of the group's products -- bartering activities --, which in compliance with accounting rules, had been charged as a direct reduction of the revenues to which they are related," the company explained.

In New York overnight Europe, the Dow closed down 0.2 percent, the Nasdaq up 0.3 percent, and the S&P 500 closed just below par.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0894 versus USD1.0955 in Wednesday's European stock close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2625 from USD1.2613 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD73.57 per barrel versus USD73.03 per barrel at Wednesday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,904.34 an ounce from USD1,909.22 an ounce on Wednesday evening.

Thursday's macroeconomic calendar features the European Central Bank's monthly report at 1000 CEST, coming half an hour before UK consumer credit data. For the Eurozone, eyes on household and business confidence data, coming at 1100 CEST.

In the afternoon, at 1300 CEST, Spanish business confidence data will be released. In the US, meanwhile, focus on jobless claims and Gross Domestic Product, due at 1430 CEST, and gas inventories, expected at 1630 CEST.

Among the companies in the Piazza Affari, the semi-annual financial statements of I Grandi Viaggi are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News senior reporter

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