2024-04-03 15:30:47
The Madrid Stock Exchange concluded Wednesday’s session with an advance of 0.52%. The Ibex 35 stood at 11,032.3 points at the close, while the risk premium stood at 86 points, and the interest rate on the ten-year Spanish bond stood at 3.255%.
The Spanish selective started the day with doubts and without a clear direction, however, after the arrival of the macroeconomic references from Europe, it began an upward trend that was even supported later by the influence of the advances of the New York indices.
Specifically, the rate of eurozone inflation It would have stood at 2.4% year-on-year in March, two tenths below the 2.6% rise in prices in February, according to the preliminary data published by the community statistics office, Eurostat, which would be the lowest since last November, when the reference marked its lowest levels since the summer of 2021.
The preliminary inflation data in March has been even below the expectations of the consensus of analysts, who aimed to maintain the rate of 2.6% due to the potential upward impact on the prices of the advance of Holy Week, thus consolidating the path of rate cuts suggested by the ECB, with a first cut in the price of money in June.
In the case of Spain, the harmonized inflation rate stood at 3.2% in March, compared to 2.9% in February, thus widening to eight tenths the unfavorable price differential for the country with respect to the average of the eurozone.
In the rest of the main economies of the euro zone, the harmonized inflation rate in March stood at 2.3% in Germany and 2.4% in France, while in Italy it was 1.3%.
Furthermore, it has been known that the rate of eurozone strike stood at 6.5% last February, in line with the previous three months and the lowest in the entire historical series (although the market expected a cut of one tenth), while in the European Union as a whole remained stable at 6%, its all-time low, for the third consecutive month, according to data also published by Eurostat.
In this way, the February reading of the eurozone unemployment rate has been nine tenths below the pre-pandemic level, since in February 2020 unemployment among eurozone countries was 7.4%.
On the other hand, in the United States it has been known that the US private sector generated 184,000 jobs in March, according to the report published by the consulting firm ADP, which represents an acceleration – and a stronger labor market – with respect to the 155,000 new jobs registered in the month of February.
Continuing in that country, and waiting for the statements of the president of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, the president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve, Raphael Bostic, has cooled expectations about interest rate cuts since it only foresees a cut in the last quarter of the year.
Despite the fact that yesterday two other members of the Fed, Mary Daly and Loretta Mester, pointed to a scenario of three cuts throughout the year – as the Fed itself has indicated in its last meetings -, investors seem to dilute the expectation , until now generalized, of three decreases in interest rates that would start in June.
Also in the ‘macro’ section of the United States, the ISM indicator of non-manufacturing activity in March has fallen when an increase was expected – although it remains in an expansionary zone -, which reflects the economic slowdown and would give rise to those who expect more numerous early rate cuts.
In other geographies, the growth of activity in China’s services sector regained momentum last March, as reflected by the PMI index, prepared by Caixin, which rose to 52.7 points from 52.5 the previous month, thus completing 15 consecutive months in expansive territory. After this, Asian stock markets have recorded generalized declines, with the Hong Kong Hang having recorded a fall of 1.22%.
In the business field, CaixaBank today pays its dividend of 0.39 euros per share, which brings the total amount that it will distribute to its shareholders to 2,890 million euros.
Given this situation, the biggest increases in the Ibex 35 have been recorded by Banco Sabadell (+4.09%), Grifols (+3.93%), Acerinox (+1.78%), Mélia Hotels (+1.66 %) and Banco Santander (+1.5%). On the other hand, the biggest falls have been for Rovi (-2.68%), Merlín (-1.65%), Cellnex (-1.59%), Solaria (-0.87%) and Amadeus (- 0.62%).
The main European stock markets have also concluded the session with gains: London has added 0.03%; Paris 0.29%; Milan 0.45% and Frankfurt 0.46%.
At closing time in Europe, the barrel of Brent, the benchmark for the Old Continent, rose 0.92% and was close to $90 a barrel, while the WTI barrel from Texas stood at $85.9. 0.88% more.
Crude oil is thus trading at its highest since last October after the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies led by Russia, known jointly as OPEC+ and meeting by videoconference This Wednesday, the cartel’s position remained unchanged, driving price increases.
Finally, the euro closes the day on Wednesday at $1.0825 in the foreign exchange market.
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