Investors extend the rises. Lower inflationary pressures in Germany and liquidity injections by the Chinese central bank boosted gains on the stock markets. The Ibex 35, which at intraday levels flirted with 9,300 points, did not deviate from the trend, but ended far from the highest levels of the session. The Spanish selective advanced 0.18% and in contrast to what happened in the past days, it lags behind its European counterparts. Despite this poor performance, the Spanish stock market managed to revalidate new annual highs.
Within the Spanish selective, the biggest increases were made by Aena (2.25%). It was followed by Ferrovial, which added 1.55%, and Mapfre (1.19%). The insurer was together with ArcelorMittal (0.94%) in charge of rendering accounts to investors with the presentation of results. On the downside, Grifols (-2.42%), Solaria (-2.41%) and Fluidra (-2.29%) were the most penalized listed companies.
The behavior of the Ibex remained in line with the rest of the European indices. A week after the technical problems, Germany released inflation data for January. In the first month of the year, the interannual rate stood at 8.7%, one tenth more than in the previous month, but below the 8.9% expected by analysts. This data was enough for the German Dax to advance 0.72%. Only above was the French Cac (0.96%) while the British FTSE rose 0.33%. Only above these did the Italian stock market manage to sneak in, which rose 1.26%.
At the close of the European markets Wall Street advanced 0.3%. The weekly unemployment in the US has become known, like every Thursday. The number of applications for unemployment benefits rose last week to 196,000, which is 13,000 more than the previous week. The data exceeds the consensus forecast of 190,000. Yesterday, the New York Stock Exchange closed with falls due to an accumulation of business results that are turning out to be less positive than what analysts expected.
A day after the ECB’s hardliner pointed to the possibility that rates in the euro zone will continue to increase at the rate of 50 basis points in the next meetings, investors opted for the correction. In the absence of official pronouncements, investors opt for prudence. This translated into a moderate drop in yields. The Spanish bond fell seven basis points, to 3.2% while German and US debt for the same term remain stable at 2.3% and 3.6% respectively.
In the currency market, the crossing of statements by members of the ECB and Federal Reserve officials serve to support the euro at 1.07 dollars.