(Alliance News) - On Friday, European indices opened mixed, with Milan's Piazza Affari dipping to around 45,600 points, while Paris outperformed other major markets across the continent.

Investors are focused on key US employment data to gauge the health of the labor market, figures that will influence the Federal Reserve's decisions on potential rate cuts.

According to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool, which uses futures and the effective federal funds rate (EFFR), there is an 86% probability that the Fed will "hold" rates in the 350/375 basis points range at the late January meeting.

Attention also remains high on a potential US Supreme Court ruling regarding the legitimacy of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

More than 1,000 companies, including Costco and Goodyear, have filed legal challenges seeking potential refunds should the Court declare the tariffs illegal.

"Substantial sums are at stake," commented Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote.

Reportedly, the Trump administration has collected USD133 billion in emergency tariffs as of December 14. If deemed illegal, those funds would have to be returned—a scenario Trump described as a "catastrophe for national security."

For the markets, Ozkardeskaya explains, it would be a fiscal disaster, as tariff revenues have partially offset Trump's spending ambitions and helped contain long-term rates, alongside increased short-term debt issuance by the Treasury to limit pressure on yields and mortgages.

On the macroeconomic front, Germany's trade surplus narrowed to EUR13.1 billion in November, down from a revised EUR17.2 billion in October and well below expectations of EUR16.5 billion.

The data was released Friday by the Federal Statistical Office.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is down 0.1% at 45,613.46, the Mid-Cap falls 0.1% to 60,513.31, the Small-Cap is fractionally positive at 37,600.56, while Italy Growth rises 0.2% to 8,846.36.

London's FTSE 100 is up 0.3%, Paris's CAC 40 gains 0.6%, while Frankfurt's DAX 40 is slightly negative.

Back in Milan, on the main blue-chip board, Amplifon leads at the open, rising 2.2% with more than 630,000 shares already traded.

Stellantis also performs well, up 1.8% with over 2.8 million shares changing hands.

Saipem rises 1.7%, and Eni is up 1.0%.

Buzzi is up 0.9% at EUR53.35. Berenberg has raised its target price to EUR50.00 from EUR44.00, maintaining a 'hold' rating.

UniCredit—down 0.2%—announced a senior bond with a 4.5-year maturity, callable after 3.5 years, for a total of EUR1.25 billion.

Additionally, the bank issued a 10-year senior preferred bond worth EUR750 million. Both issues were aimed at institutional investors.

Azimut trades down 0.5% at EUR36.51. The company reported total net inflows of EUR14.1 billion in December, including the acquisitions of North Square Investments in the US and Knox Capital in Brazil. Yesterday, the stock hit a 52-week high of EUR37.07 per share.

Leonardo sees a slight downward move. Over the last five sessions, the stock has gained more than 14%, and is up 19% since the start of the year.

Ferrari drops 0.4% to EUR320.10 per share. Notably, Deutsche Bank Research lowered its target price to EUR450.00 from EUR460.00, maintaining a 'buy' rating.

Among other decliners, A2A falls 1.2%, while Banca Popolare di Sondrio retreats 1.2%.

At the bottom of the main list, Italgas opens down 2.4%, with nearly 3 million shares changing hands.

On the Mid-Cap, d'Amico tops the board, advancing 2.4% to EUR5.625 per share. The company, with a market cap of about EUR762 million, has rallied over 15% in the past five sessions.

Intercos also performs well, up 1.8% after a 2.7% gain on Thursday.

BFF Bank sits at the bottom of the mid-cap list, down 1.8%.

On the Small-Cap, Brioschi outperforms all at the open, up 3.5%.

On the other end, Beewize drops 7.5% at the start of trading.

Altea Green Power is down 0.4% at EUR7.24 per share. Alantra confirms its 'buy' rating on the stock with a target price of EUR10.60, citing a clearly positive operational update from the broker.

Analysts also note that, at current levels, the stock trades at about 3.1 times the estimated 2026 EV/Ebitda, a valuation seen as extremely compressed and not reflective of the value of its approximately 2 GW BESS pipeline in advanced development. In light of these factors, the 'buy' recommendation is reiterated.

IGD SIIQ—down 1.1%—announced it has chosen Evogy for an energy efficiency and smart building management project, part of the group's broader decarbonization and sustainability plan.

EPH announced that its board of directors has appointed Fabio Ramondelli as CEO, granting him broad powers for ordinary and extraordinary management, and Massimo Guerra as general manager. The stock is suspended after a theoretical 14% rally.

Among SMEs, Directa SIM—up 0.8%—leads the most-traded stocks. On Friday, the company announced it had reached 137,568 clients, marking a 32% year-on-year increase.

The total value of client assets reached EUR9.7 billion, up 47% from around EUR6.6 billion in December 2024.

eVISO climbs 3.4%, following gains on the previous day.

CleanBnB—down 4.1%—reported 2025 management figures showing business growth over the previous year, despite what the company described as a particularly challenging market environment.

In 2025, CleanBnB managed a total of 135,414 stays, up 8% from 125,264 in 2024. Gross booking, representing revenue generated from managed stays, reached EUR51.7 million for the full year 2025, up 5% from EUR49.2 million in 2024.

Poligrafici Printing—no trades recorded—announced it has renewed its contract with Editoriale Libertà Spa for printing the daily newspaper "Libertà".

At the bottom of the alternative list sits TMP Group, down 5.8%.

In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones gained 0.6%, the Nasdaq fell 0.4%, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.1%.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 1.6%, the Shanghai Composite finished 0.9% higher, and the Hang Seng added 0.3%.

On the currency front, the euro is trading at USD1.1642 from USD1.1656 at Thursday's European equity close, while the pound is at USD1.3415 from USD1.3431 last night.

Among commodities, Brent is trading at USD62.55 per barrel from USD61.14 at Thursday's European equity close, while gold is valued at USD4,466.84 per ounce from USD4,454.95 per ounce last night.

On Friday's economic calendar, Italian retail sales data is due at 1000 CET, followed by Eurozone figures at 1100 CET.

At 1345 CET, ECB's Lane is scheduled to give a speech.

From the US, unemployment rate data will be released at 1430 CET, while at 2130 CET, as usual for Fridays, the COT Report will be published.

On the Piazza Affari corporate calendar, results from OPS Italia are expected.

By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter

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