News: FGX Italy - Factors to watch on Dec. 18

The following factors could affect Italian markets on Friday.

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 .

GENERAL Italy reported 683 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday against 680 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 18,236 from 17,572.

POLITICS

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	ECONOMY 

ISTAT-INPS-INAIL-ANPAL release Q3 'Joint quarterly note on employment trends' (1100 GMT).

COMPANIES MONTE DEI PASCHI BMPS.MI , UNICREDIT CRDI.MI Italy's Monte dei Paschi said it would approve a plan to meet capital needs totalling up to 2.5 billion euros in mid-January, as Rome scrambles to find a merger partner for the state-owned bank.

UNICREDIT Aviva and UniCredit expect non-binding bids for their insurance joint-venture next week as the British insurer moves to divest its Italian operations, three people close to the matter said.

ENEL ENEI.MI Italy's biggest utility Enel kicked off the sale of up to 50% of fast broadband company Open Fiber to Australian infrastructure fund Macquarie on Thursday, in a move that could open the way to the creation of a full-fiber national network.

FINCANTIERI FCT.MI The shipbuilder's Norwegian unit Vard signed a deal with Netherlands's Van Oord for design and construction of a cable laying vessel .

BANCO DESIO DESI.MI The bank's new plan targets a profit of 54 million euros at the end of 2023.

DIARY Think-tank Prometeia presents online the December forecast report "The world economy on hold" (1330 GMT).

Rome, Cabinet meeting (1700 GMT). Rome, Chamber of Deputies starts examination of 2021 budget (0900 GMT).

Rome, state broadcaster RAI CEO Fabrizio Salini speaks before Chamber of Deputies RAI Supervisory Committee (0800 GMT).

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	FTSE IT allshare index  .FTITLMS  

FTSE Mib index........ .FTMIB FTSE Allstars index... .FTSTAR FTSE Mid Cap index.... .FTITMC Block trades.......... .BLK.MI Stories on Italy...... IT-LEN 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 ..... Nikkei 225............. .N225 Tokyo report............ FTSE 100............... .FTSE London report........... Xetra DAX............. .GDAXI Frankfurt market stories CAC-40................. .FCHI Paris market stories... World Indices..................................... 0#.INDEX Reuters survey of world bourse outlook......... EQUITYPOLL1 Western European IPO diary.......................... WEUIPO European Asset Allocation........................ Reuters News at a Glance: Equities............... Main currency report:...............................