The following factors could affect Italian markets on Thursday....

The following factors could affect Italian markets on Thursday.

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

For a complete list of diary events in Italy please click on IT/DIA .

POLITICS Italy's ruling parties are reluctantly coming to terms with the prospect of having to forge a new deal with the centrist Italia Viva party which quit the government and forced this week's resignation of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, political sources said on Wednesday.

Italy's co-ruling 5-Star Movement will propose President Sergio Mattarella to hand the mandate to form a new government to caretaker Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, party sources said on Wednesday.

GENERAL Pfizer PFE.N will continue to supply its COVID-19 vaccine to Italy, respecting its agreement with the European Commission, even if Rome sues the company, the chief executive of the group's Italian unit said on Thursday.

Italy reported 467 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, down from 541 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 15,204 from 10,593.

ECONOMY ISTAT releases January consumer and business confidence data (0900 GMT).

Assogestioni releases December fund flows data.

DEBT Treasury sells 3.0-3.5 billion euros 0.50% BTP bonds due Feb. 1, 2026; 3.25-3.75 billion euros 0.90% BTP bond due April 1, 2031 and 1.0-1.5 billion euros CCTeu bonds due April 15, 2026. Subscriptions close at 1000 GMT.

COMPANIES FINCANTIERI FCT.MI Rome and Paris agreed on Wednesday that a proposed combination of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and French rival Chantiers de l'Atlantique no longer made sense in the current economic environment.

UNICREDIT CRDI.MI UniCredit's board unanimously designated Andrea Orcel as the bank's new chief executive on Wednesday, paving the way for his appointment in April while leaving the fate of Italian rival Monte dei Paschi (MPS) BMPS.MI in limbo. (*) BANCO BPM BAMI.MI

Some of the bank's shareholders, with the backing of at least one independent board member, are working to help bring about a tie up with UniCredit, La Stampa said.

GENERALI GASI.MI Italian insurer Generali has approved a shake-up plan that will strengthen the hand of Chief Executive Philippe Donnet to speed up delivery on targets and develop key business areas such as asset management.

BANCA MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA BMPS.MI In the absence of a confidentiality accord signed with a prospective buyer, the board of the state-owned bank will approve only qualitative measures on Thursday, a person familiar with the matter said, describing "the direction of travel" for the bank to fill its up to 2.5 billion euro capital gap. (*) A 500 million euro bond that will be part of a capital strengthening plan at the bank will be placed by JP Morgan and Citi in March-April, Il Messaggero said, adding that would be followed by a capital increase of 1.5-1.8 million euros.

STELLANTIS STLA.MI Credit rating agency DBRS has upgraded from "BBB (low)" to "BBB" the Issuer Rating and Senior Unsecured Debt rating of Stellantis N.V. The trend on all ratings is stable.

Martin Vial, head of the French state shareholding company APE, said on Wednesday that Bpifrance would not remain a shareholder of the newly merged car maker Stellantis forever.

TOD'S TOD.MI Sales at fashion group Tod's fell by almost a third in 2020 after its revenues in the fourth quarter of the year were hit hard by the resurgence of the COVID epidemic in Europe and the United States.

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO SFER.MI Board meeting on 2020 preliminary FY results (revenues). Ferragamo shares jumped as much as 7% on Wednesday after a press report suggested the luxury group's top management could be replaced.

SAFILO SFLG.MI Italian eyewear maker Safilo expects a second-half recovery in earnings to fully offset earlier losses linked to the coronavirus pandemic, allowing the company to break even in the full year 2020, it said on Wednesday.

IL SOLE 24 ORE S24.MI Journalists at the financial daily are on strike on Thursday after the publisher announced it would stop printing 'IL' magazine, union representatives said in a statement on Wednesday.

ATLANTIA ATL.MI The infrastructure group said on Wednesday that traffic on its Italy motorways was down 27.1% year-on-year last week.

ENEL ENEI.MI Enel said on Wednesday it had won 62.6 MW of renewable, repowering capacity in Italy auction.

(*) STMICROELECTRONICS STM.MI The French-Italian chipmaker said on Thursday it expected its first-quarter sales to jump by almost a third year-on-year, confirming an acceleration in demand, especially in the automotive and microcontroller segments.

Conference call on full year results(0830 GMT)

(*) ASTM ATMI.MI The motor way company's new industrial plan will focus on the United States and Brazil, daily MF said. In the US the group has pre-qualified for a contract in Miami worth 1.3 billion dollars, the paper added.

DIARY Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri and tax agency Agenzia delle Entrate Director General Ernesto Maria Ruffini interviewed during annual event on fiscal news 'Telefisco 2021' (0810 GMT).

Rome, President Sergio Mattarella continues consultations to form a new government.

Rome, Chamber of Deputies Speaker Roberto Fico attends Camerino University academic year inauguration ceremony online (0900 GMT).

Rome, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Paola De Micheli speaks via videoconference before Chamber of Deputies Environment Committee as part of the examination of the proposed 'National Recovery and Resilience Plan' (1345 GMT).

Bari, Court holds preliminary hearing on Banca Popolare di Bari trial.

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