The IBEX 35 closed Friday’s session up 0.28% to 9,232.50 points. The Madrid squad is making full progress on the week to a 12.2% gain in the first quarter of the year. However, if you only focus on March, the result shows a minus of 1.72%.
Today, Acciona Energías Renovables leads the way with a 2.05% increase compared to the 1.96% that IAG (Iberia) has risen and the 1.85% that Inditex has recorded. Among the top-performing stocks were Bankinter down 2.13% and Banco Sabadell down 2.10%.
The day of this Friday in the corporate sector was marked by the shareholders’ meetings of Banco Santander, Telefónica and Caixabank.
In the case of the bank led by Ana Botín, it has reiterated its targets for 2023 and approved a final cash dividend of 5.95 euro cents per share at the expense of the 2022 results, for a total cash dividend of 11.78 euro cents per share. 18% more than last year. Shareholders also re-elected Ana Botín, President of Banco Santander, as Director.
Telefónica proposed its shareholder remuneration policy for this year 2023 at its Annual General Meeting today. Ibex Teleco has announced the distribution of two cash dividends of EUR 0.15 each, to be paid in June and December of this year.
Caixabank’s board of directors has also approved all the agreements put to the vote, including paying a dividend of €0.2306 per share on 2022 results, a 58% increase from the €0.1463 in 2022 the previous year Year. This compensation, which will become effective for shareholders from April 12, corresponds to a payout of 55%. Thus, the total amount for dividends charged to the 2022 result is 1,730 million euros.
Regarding the analysts’ recommendations, Banco Sabadell shareholders breakfasted today with the news that Citi experts have raised their price target for their shares to 1.10 euros from the previous 90 cents. Citi remains one of the least optimistic analysts on the stock.
On the other hand, Fluidra’s board of directors proposed the payment of a dividend of EUR 0.70 per share to the general meeting. The total distribution is EUR 134 million and will be paid in two installments on July 5 and December 5, 2023 at EUR 0.35 per share.
In other company news, Acciona has set up a joint venture with Nordex for the development of green hydrogen projects over the next 10 years after buying half of the dedicated subsidiary for 68 million euros and at the moment they already have sites in USA, Latin America and Africa.
On the macro side, euro-zone inflation posted its biggest drop in history in March, but core inflation growth accelerated, Eurostat data showed on Friday, likely reinforcing the idea that the European Central Bank (ECB) is raising interest rates further becomes. Consumer prices rose by 6.9% in March, after an increase of 8.5% in February, the largest fall since Eurostat began collecting data in 1991. The decline was almost entirely due to a fall in energy prices compared to March last year, which had skyrocketed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the euro area unemployment rate remained stable at 6.6% in February 2023 compared with the previous month, while it fell by a tenth to 6% in the European Union (EU) as a whole.
In the US, inflation looks set to ease further, fueling hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon end its policy of tightening monetary policy and lowering interest rates later this year or early next. All eyes this Friday were on the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) Index, known as the Federal Reserve’s preferred indicator of inflation. And the signals it has sent to the market have been positive. The index excluding food and energy (core PCE) rose 0.3% for the month, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. That figure is below the Dow Jones estimate of 0.4% and January’s rise.. Also, January data has been revised down to 0.5% from 0.6%.
In the heat of these numbers. Wall Street is trending towards gains in Friday’s session, although they may not be enough for the Dow Jones to end the quarter on a positive note. Much better was the Nasdaq, which is a heavyweight in the technology sector and is up nearly 15% over the three months.
On the European stock markets, the EURO STOXX 50 closed this Friday up 0.69% to 4,315 points compared to 0.73% for the German Dax. In Paris, the CAC 40 is up 0.81%, while in London the FTSE 100 is up 0.11%. In the early European morning session in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.93% to 28,041 points.
In commodity markets, oil prices were little changed, with benchmark indices heading for their weakest monthly results since November. Oil futures were up 0.33% to $78.82 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.61% to $74.73 after gaining 7% for the week.
Contracts are headed for monthly declines of 5% and 3%, respectively, after hitting their lows since 2021 earlier in the month amid the biggest bank failures since the 2008 financial crisis, but have since regained some ground.
In terms of fixed income, the Spanish 10-year bond offers a yield of 3.34% the risk premium compared to Germany is 101.70 points. Across the Atlantic, the benchmark 10-year US bond yield falls to 3.524%.