Italy - Factors to watch on July 27

The following factors could affect Italian markets on Monday

Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).

POLITICS

Italy is assessing ways to help families and firms cope with high energy costs, including a new excise duty cut on petrol and diesel prices, the office of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday.

ECONOMY

The International Monetary Fund confirmed on Friday that Italy's economy was projected to grow by 0.5% in both 2026 and 2027, while inflation was expected to rise to 2.9% in 2026.

The IMF cited rapid population ageing and weak productivity as medium-term drags on growth.

It said Italy's public debt remained too high and was vulnerable to interest-rate and growth shocks, urging authorities to put debt on a "decisively downward path" while safeguarding financial stability.

DEBT

The Treasury said on Friday it would sell 7.5 billion euros in BOT bills at an auction on July 29.

On Monday the Treasury will announce the details for the medium- and long-term bond auction scheduled for July 30.

COMPANIES

MONTE DEI PASCHI BMPS.MI, BANCO BPM BAMI.MI, GENERALI GASI.MI

Advisers working on a potential combination between the two lenders are weighing two options, Milano Finanza reported on Saturday: a merger, either through the incorporation of MPS into Banco BPM or vice versa, or a competing takeover offer, most likely launched by Banco BPM. The alternatives differ in timing, shareholder involvement and execution risk, the report added.

According to Sunday's Il Sole 24 Ore, the two banks are set to hold extraordinary board meetings in the coming days to discuss merger plans. Banco BPM CEO Giuseppe Castagna would retain his role in the merged entity while MPS CEO Luigi Lovaglio would become chairman, the paper added.

(*) The extraordinary board meetings could take place on Sunday, to approve a merger of equals proposed by MPS with a share and cash offer, funded by the sale of stakes in non-core assets, such as Generali, Corriere della Sera reported on Monday.

(*) Given the different market capitalisations of the two lenders, in order to make the merger of equals more balanced, MPS could offer an extra dividend to encourage its shareholders to back the deal, La Stampa reported on Monday, adding this could be financed by selling Generali stakes. The report added that Banco's leading shareholder, France's Credit Agricole CAGR.PA, could ask for assets such as bank branches or Banco's minority stake in consumer credit company Agos, to approve the deal.

UNICREDIT CRDI.MI

The EU has approved a narrow sanctions exemption that could allow UniCredit to complete a long-delayed transaction involving Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, according to the latest package of measures against Russia.

UNICREDIT, GENERALI GASI.MI

UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel said in an interview with Sunday's Corriere della Sera daily that he is having meetings with Generali CEO Philippe Donnet "to talk about possible industrial cooperation". He also said the bank was "observing with interest" the likely looming changes in ownership structure at Generali.

(*) STELLANTIS STLAM.MI

Piper Sandler on Monday changed its rating on the carmaker to 'underweight' from 'overweight' and cut the target price to $4 from $ 14.

ENI ENI.MI

Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader by volume, said a transaction with the Italian major for assets in the Republic of Congo had been terminated after reaching a long stop date in March 2026, a company filing viewed by Reuters showed.

SAIPEM SPMI.MI

(*) The energy contractor said on Monday it had been awarded two contracts by Eni ENI.MI, in the Ivory Coast and in Italy, with an overall value of around €800 million.

The group holds a board meeting to approve first-half results.

(*) M&A, PHARMA

Following its acquisition of U.S.-based Catalyst Pharma, Angelini Pharma is ready to invest further in the rare diseases sector, Chief Executive Sergio Marullo di Condojanni told Corriere della Sera's financial supplement L'Economia in an interview published on Monday. "The Italian pharmaceutical industry has enormous potential. A national champion can be created, but it needs to reach a large scale," he said.

ITALGAS IG.MI

Board meeting on H1 results, followed by an analyst call (1400 GMT).

For Italian market data and news, click on codes in

brackets:

20 biggest gainers (in percentage).............PG.MI

20 biggest losers (in percentage)..............PL.MI

FTSE IT allshare index .FTITLMS

FTSE Mib index........ .FTMIB

FTSE Allstars index... .FTSTAR

FTSE Mid Cap index.... .FTITMC

Stories on Italy...... IT-LEN

For pan-European market data and news, click on codes in

brackets:

European Equities speed guide...................EUR/EQUITY

FTSEurofirst 300 index...............................FTEU3

DJ STOXX index.......................................STOXX

Top 10 STOXX sectors............................PGL.STOXXS

Top 10 EUROSTOXX sectors.......................PGL.STOXXES

Top 10 Eurofirst 300 sectors....................PGL.FTEU3S

Top 25 European pct gainers........................PG.PEUR

Top 25 European pct losers.........................PL.PEUR

Main stock markets:

Dow Jones................DJI Wall Street report ......N

Nikkei 225..............N225 Tokyo report.............T

FTSE 100................FTSE London report............L

Xetra DAX..............GDAXI Frankfurt market stories.F

CAC-40..................FCHI Paris market stories....PA

World Indices.....................................0#.INDEX

Reuters survey of world bourse outlook.........EQUITYPOLL1

Western European IPO diary..........................WEUIPO

European Asset Allocation........................EUR/ASSET

Reuters News at a Glance: Equities...............TOP/EQE

Main currency report:...............................FRX/