By Euronews en español
Published on
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The main index of the Spanish stock market closed on Wednesday at 15,019 points and reached levels not seen since 2007, the year in which the real estate bubble burst, leading to a global stock market collapse and a decade of austerity for the Iberian economy. At the time of writing on Thursday morning, it had continued to rise to 15,113 points.
The Ibex-35 is less than 1,000 points away from beating its all-time high of 9 November 2007, a month before the outbreak of the great financial crisis. At that time it reached 16,040.40 points. Several factors could be boosting investor confidence during the eight consecutive days in which the Ibex has risen.
Firstly, the US Consumer Price Index data: the drop in oil prices has kept inflation at 2.7% in both the US and Spain, so trade uncertainties and Donald Trump’s tariff war do not appear to be translating, for now, into widespread price increases for consumers.
Secondly, the US Federal Reserve is expected to lower its interest rates despite resistance from its chief, Jerome Powell, who believes that inflation is not sufficiently under control and that rates should therefore not be cut, despite the direct threats he has received from the US president to do so. The futures market gives a near 100% probability of a rate cut in the US, to be announced on 17 September.
The biggest risers on the Ibex on Wednesday were two pharmaceutical companies: Grifols (2.18%) and Rovi (3.42%), as well as Fluidra (2.79%) and several banks such as BBVA (1.68%) and Santander (1.51%). In Europe, the German Dax was up 0.7% while London’s FTSE 100 and the French Cac were up 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively. So far this year, the Spanish selective index has gained 28%.
Investors await Friday’s meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska.
The geopolitical news of the week is keeping the world’s stock markets on edge, and they could react with a negative rebound if a satisfactory agreement is not reached between the two leaders.
The meeting between the US and Russian presidents will be their first face-to-face meeting since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. The Ukrainian president and the other Western leaders, excluded from this meeting, have tried to soften their positions this afternoon so that Ukrainian territorial sovereignty does not come into play during the negotiations, in which Kyiv will have no say.
