Inside the Madrid Stock Exchange. /
The market reacts upwards to Christine Lagarde’s speech, much less aggressive than expected
The European stock markets react with increases to the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), in which the monetary organization has made it clear that it will end its debt purchase program. But the speech of its president, Christine Lagarde, has been much less aggressive than expected by a market that was even betting on the announcement of the first rate hike for the summer.
It has not been. And the institution has also explained that it will be flexible with the withdrawal of stimuli, at a time when the war in Ukraine also forces us to point to further economic deterioration in the euro zone.
With an eye on the Wall Street results season, the Ibex-35 rose 0.94% at the close on the verge of regaining 9,700 points, in a half-gas day that was also the last of the week before the closing for the Good Friday holiday.
Tourism values have been the winners of the session, led by Meliá (4.64%), IAG (3.99%) and Grifols (2.98%). After these, Arcelormittal has also stood out, rising 2.83% after announcing the purchase of 80% of a hot iron briquette plant.
On the contrary, in the negative field, the only falls that the selective has registered have been those of Siemens Gamesa (-1.52%), PharmaMar (-0.31%), Banco Sabadell (-0.25%), Cellnex Telecom (-0.18%) and CIE Automotive (-0.15%).
Where the reflection of the ECB has been most noticeable has been in the foreign exchange market, with the euro depreciating almost 1% against the dollar, until leaving the cross between the two currencies at 1.0782 euros per dollar.
The divergence that is beginning to take shape between the monetary policy of the Fed, which has already started the rate hike cycle, and that of the European body, has caused a notable strength in the greenback in recent months, with investors anticipating the expectation of up to six rate hikes in the year in the US, compared to just two in the euro zone.
Meanwhile, in the raw materials market, the price of oil fell back but remained above 100 dollars. The barrel of Brent, a reference in Europe, is trading at around 107 dollars, while the American West Texas is around 103 dollars.
.jpg?$p=2b2def3&f=16x9&w=1080&q=0.8)
