The Ibex 35 closes May with an increase of 4.31% and consolidates 11,300 points

The selective rises 0.68% this week despite losing 0.14% this Friday

May 31. () –

The Ibex 35 has left the April correction behind and has concluded May with a revaluation of 4.31%, reaching 11,322 points, in a month marked by the digestion of macroeconomic references that have been cooling expectations of rate cuts by central banks.

The main indicator of the Spanish market made significant advances in the first half of the month, to the point of reaching an annual maximum on May 15 at 11,362.8 integers, a level not previously seen since July 2015. In the second fortnight , the indicator was limited to maintaining and consolidating, with some setbacks, the level of 11,300 points.

Thus, so far this year, the Spanish selective has accumulated an advance of 12%. It should also be noted that the index yesterday signed its best session (+1.73%) so far in 2024, an unprecedented positive result since last November.

Regarding the stock market performance in May, XTB analyst Manuel Pinto explained to Europa Press that the month has evolved from “more to less in the global indexes.”

Going into details, he assessed that the case of Europe is “striking”, since “everyone” discounts a first rate cut for the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB, which has rates at 4.5%) in next week and yet there are many doubts about the next moves.

On the one hand, Pinto has stressed, there are elements such as the increase in salaries, the increase in the monetary mass, the rise in general inflation and the improvement in economic activity, while, on the other hand, it is seen that The services sector has begun to slow down, productivity has not improved to the level of the United States and the economy has improved, but remains in a delicate situation.

“Now more than ever we will be aware of every piece of data to be able to find new clues about the future of monetary policy, but with this outlook, volatility may increase in the coming weeks,” he warned about this situation.

Going into detail about the latest reference inflation data, it is worth noting that the eurozone inflation rate would have stood at 2.6% year-on-year in May, two tenths above the rise in prices observed in April, according to the preliminary estimate of the data published this Friday by the community statistics office, Eurostat.

From the United States, also this Friday it was learned that the United States personal consumption expenditure price index, the statistic chosen by the Federal Reserve (Fed) to monitor inflation, stood at 2.7% year-on-year in the month of April, unchanged since March, as revealed by the Office of Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce.

“The data have been in line with what was expected, but they are still very high for the Fed’s objective (which has rates at 5.25-5.5%) and limit its degree of action,” Pinto commented to the with respect to the American reference.

For its part, the Spanish data released yesterday revealed that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.3% in May in relation to the previous month and raised its interannual rate three tenths, up to 3.6%, registering thus its highest level since April 2023.

Precisely regarding the Spanish market, Pinto commented that the Ibex 35 “seems to be more comfortable” than the rest of its European counterparts thanks to the momentum of two key sectors such as banking and energy.

In fact, in the month of May only four stocks closed with losses: BBVA (-2.31%), Mapfre (-2.3%), IAG (-2%) and Acerinox (-0.49%). On the other hand, the stocks with the best monthly performance were Solaria (+23.13%), Indra (+17%) and Colonial (+13.2%).

Regarding the banks, apart from BBVA, Unicaja (+9.78%), Bankinter (+9.43%), Sabadell (+7.93%), Caixabank (+6.42%) and Banco Santander (+ 5.72%). Other important stocks have also advanced during the month: Iberdrola (+5.13%), Repsol (+2%), Telefónica (+1.88%) and Inditex (+1.66%).

On the business agenda, the reference corporate event continues to be BBVA’s hostile takeover of Banco Sabadell, while this Friday BBVA has reported that it has called an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on July 5 in which it will propose the capital increase needed to carry out the share exchange with Banco Sabadell in the hostile takeover bid.

In the rest of Europe, the main stock indices have ended May positively, although, as Pinto recalled, without matching the momentum of Madrid: Paris has added 0.1%; London 1.82%; Milan 2.21% and Frankfurt 3.16%.

Regarding Wall Street, Pinto has highlighted the momentum of Nvidia, subject to the US markets, and whose valuation has already surpassed the entire German Stock Exchange.

On the side of the raw materials markets, the price of a barrel of Brent quality oil, a reference for the Old Continent, is preparing to close May with a decline of more than 5%, to 81.5 dollars per barrel, while The Texas was at $77.1, another 5% reduction compared to the end of April.

In the foreign exchange market, the price of the euro against the dollar increased by 1.6% in May, to 1,085 ‘greenbacks’, while in the debt market the interest required on the 10-year Spanish bond has closed May at 3.389% compared to the 3.348% at the close of April. The risk premium (the differential with the German bond) has remained at 72.7 points.

For its part, the troy ounce of gold rose 2% this May, to $2,335, although it reached a historic high on the 20th at $2,450. In parallel, bitcoin rose 11% this month, to $66,600, although it also reached $72,000 on the 20th, close to its all-time highs.