The Ibex 35 distances itself from Europe and trades flat at midday awaiting US employment

On the business front, BBVA’s board of directors has approved the capital increase to face the takeover bid for Sabadell

5 Jul. () –

The Ibex 35 broke away from the European upward trend at midday on Friday and traded flat (-0.02%), at 11,0612.7 points, awaiting the official US employment report for June – a reference that will determine the next steps of the Federal Reserve (Fed) – and the return to trading on Wall Street after having closed yesterday for a holiday.

The Spanish index had started on the rise and, at times, surpassed the 11,100-point mark. However, at midday it settled at yesterday’s closing levels awaiting incentives, while the rest of Europe reacted with gains after the British elections and awaiting the French elections.

Banca March experts pointed out this morning in a report that the labor market data [en Estados Unidos] take on greater importance this month, as several indicators of growth, such as business confidence figures, are showing ambiguous signals.

On the macro front, it was also learned that retail sales in the Eurozone rose 0.3% year-on-year and 0.1% monthly in May.

At the national level, the Spanish General Index of Industrial Production (IPI) rose by 0.2% in May compared to the same month in 2023, a rate 12.5 points lower than that of the previous month.

For its part, German industrial production in May fell by 2.5% compared to the previous month, when it had increased by 0.1%, while compared to the same month in 2023 it fell by 6.7%.

Regarding central banks, it should be noted that the Director General of Economics of the European Central Bank (ECB), Oscar Arce, has considered that the toughest monetary policy “is behind us” and that a “very marked” process of disinflation is taking place, which he believes will continue “in the coming quarters” although in a “quite erratic” way, with rises and falls in inflation.

At the corporate level, BBVA shareholders approved, during the extraordinary general meeting held this Friday, the capital increase required to undertake the takeover bid for Banco Sabadell with 96.04% of the votes cast in favour.

BBVA’s chairman Carlos Torres previously defended the “great opportunity” that the public takeover bid (OPA) announced for Banco Sabadell represents in a speech to the bank’s shareholders. The company’s shares remained at the same price at midday.

In this context, in the middle part of the trading, the rises of Grifols (+2.27%), Ferrovial (+1.02%) and Rovi (+0.94%) stood out, while on the losing side, the energy companies and banks were the most prominent: Acciona (-1.38%), Enagás (-1.3%), Acciona Energía (-1.1%), Banco Santander (-0.93%), Bankinter (-0.85%) and CaixaBank (-0.82%).

The rest of the European stock markets were up: London gained 0.3%, Paris 0.44%, Milan 0.5% and Frankfurt 0.92%.

All this comes after the election results in the United Kingdom, which gave an absolute majority to the leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, ousting the Conservative Party from power after 14 years.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the benchmark for the Old Continent, fell by 0.08% at midday, to $87.36, while Texas crude was at $83.93, up 0.07%.

On the currency market, the euro appreciated by 0.15% against the dollar, to 1.0827 ‘greenbacks’, while on the debt market the interest required for the 10-year Spanish bond eased to 3.367%, with the risk premium (the differential with the German bond) at 78.4 points.