Business results and the greater resistance shown by the economy become the main catalysts for the Stock Markets. After several sessions trying, he finally got it today. The Ibex 35 registers 0.87% and exceeds the level of 9,000 points, maximum of November 2021.
Sabadell and the US GDP in the fourth quarter have been the main protagonists of the day. The United States grew 2.9% in 2022, when the market consensus expected 2.6%. The tightening of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy has made itself felt in US performance, since in 2021 its GDP rebounded by 3.2%, but this did not prevent it from advancing again, even surprising analysts on the rise. Wall Street starts with moderate increases.
Within the Ibex, Sabadell, which yesterday announced its best results since 2006 and an improvement in shareholder remuneration, shone with its own light. The entity scored 10.98%, the highest rise since November 2020, and dragged down the rest of the Ibex banks. Unicaja added 3.51%; Santander, 3.25%; Bankinter, 2.11%; BBVA, 1.99% and CaixaBank, 1.4%. On the decrease side, Cellnex (-1.87%), Acciona (-1.13%) and Merlin (-0.99%) stood out.
Beyond corporate results, investors are looking to next week’s policy meetings. The resistance shown by the US economy gives room for the Federal Reserve to maintain an aggressive tone. However, in the last few days the idea that the central bank moderates the pace and undertakes a rise of 25 basis points has begun to gain strength. This possibility gains weight after the Bank of Canada confirmed that it will pause. A very different situation is the one that exists in the euro zone. As its president has repeatedly stated, the ECB will remain firm and raise rates by 50 basis points.
“Investors are understandably focused on the direction of interest rates and a possible turnaround from the Federal Reserve in late 2023. Although it is somewhat possible, I personally would not bet on a very short-term rate reduction or even rate reductions.” Having been wrong in their view that inflation would be transitory, central banks will want to see a very clear downward trend and not be surprised again, so they could leave rates higher for longer,” he says, Sharon Bentley-Hamlyn, chief investment officer at Aubrey Capital Management. With this idea as a backdrop, returns rebounded. The Spanish bond advanced seven basis points to 3.18% while the German debt rose to 2.2%.
The greater resistance of the US economy helped contain the correction suffered by the dollar at the beginning of the year. Despite everything, the European currency moves away from the minimum and changes to 1.08 greenbacks.
As for oil, Brent, a benchmark in Europe, rose 0.52% and the price per barrel stood at $86.57.