The IBEX 35 is up 0.62% to 9,312.30 points, eventually accumulating a 0.86% gain over the four weekdays. Although the profit is meager, the Selective has already accumulated three consecutive weeks with a positive balance.
The financial sector, which had been going through a difficult period in recent weeks, was the big protagonist of the index today. Leading the rise was Caixabank, which rose sharply by 4.30% to €3.49. Other banks such as Banco Sabadell, Unicaja Banco and Banco Santander posted gains of more than 3%.
On the downside, Acciona was the biggest penalty today, falling 1.88% while Inditex fell 1.04%.
In the energy sector, Iberdrola continued to rally, hitting highs for the year thanks to its divestment in Mexico. The company will focus on finding “new opportunities” in the US and Europe after selling 8,434 megawatts (MW) in Mexico for $6,000 million.
The experts point out that with this operation Iberdrola almost completely ends its problematic presence in the North American country, which analysts consider strategic as a sign of its strategic plan. An operation that brings it to its annual highs in view of the good trend forecast by analysts.
Along with Iberdrola, Cellnex has been one of the major players in the market in recent days, counting down the days since former President Bertrand Kan announced his resignation as director. According to market speculation, this departure could speed up the search for a new CEO.
A stock to watch closely in the continuous market is OHLA, which has returned to January levels based on its rating. The exit of the Villar Mir family from the stake in the construction company has led to a month of March that has resulted in significant losses, from levels above 0.60 euros per share to the current ones that have set us back in price by a quarter since that one of its targets for the year was not met.
Outside our borders also for the most important European stock markets: the EURO STOXX 50 rose by 0.27% to 4,309 points, while the German DAX rose by 0.50%. In Paris, the CAC 40 closed up 0.12% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 1%.
During the Asian session harsh punishment for the Tokyo Nikkei 225 indexwhich closed down 1.22% to 27,472 points.
The red also appears to be holding its own in the Wall Street session, with the DOW JONES, S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 all negative on the New York morning as concerns mounted over the health of the US job market.
And it so happens that we had to wait for the US meeting to hear the day’s main macro reference, which was none other than the initial jobless claims data. The number of people filing for federal unemployment benefits in the U.S. hit 228,000 last week, higher than expected, according to the Labor Department.. In addition, the previous week’s figure has been revised upwards to 246,000 from an earlier estimate of 198,000. Economists had expected 200,000 inquiries.
However, the four-week moving average for new claims, which is considered a more reliable indicator of labor market trends as it reduces spikes in volatility, fell to 237,750.
Despite closed markets, tomorrow’s Friday will see the release of US nonfarm payrolls for March, numbers eagerly awaited by investors to confirm the extent to which the US jobs market is slowing and whether it is a real sign of it that the economy will slow down as quickly as many investors seem to fear at the moment.
The beginning of also appears on the horizon the earnings season that unofficially kicks off next week with earnings from the big Wall Street banks. “In doing so, we will examine to what extent managers are concerned about the macroeconomic scenario they are facing and whether or not they are reviewing their business and earnings expectations on this basis,” he emphasizes. Juan J. Fernández-Figares of Link Management. “Analysts will do the same after the release of earnings figures corresponding to the recently ended quarter.”
“We understand that this quarterly earnings release season, at least in the short/medium term, can be key to how equity markets perform and should serve to ‘separate the wheat from the chaff’, with companies emerging stronger from it and others, who will be punished, ”adds Fernández-Figares.
In the fixed income space, the Spanish 10-year note offers a secondary market yield of 3.218% the risk premium compared to Germany is 104.20 points. Across the Atlantic, the US 10-year bond yield is 3.281%.
In commodity markets, oil prices were little changed in Thursday’s session but are heading for a third straight week of gains. West Texas Intermediate Crude is trading at $80.61 a barrel, while benchmark Brent Oil Futures in Europe is trading at $85.07 a barrel. Prices rose more than 6% earlier in the week after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, promised voluntary production cuts.
The exchange rate between the euro and the dollar is 1.0922 dollars, up 0.14% for the common currency.