Ibex 35 closes 1.7% higher, biggest rise since April

Banco Sabadell was the best performer after being boosted 3.56%. After the Catalan bank there was ACS (+3.15%) and Enagas (+2.91%), as well as heavyweights like Telefonica (+2.66%), Iberdrola (+2.42%) and Banco Santander (+2.23%). On the other side of the table was Siemens Gamesa, falling 1.18% and being the only stock to finish lower.

Other European stocks were also higher, ranging from the 0.6% garnered by the FTSE 100 to a gain of 1.26% for the DAX. Wall Street was also higher at its open, with both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 above 1%. On Friday the three main indices all finished in the black, in a week marked by political tension between the US and North Korea.

Asia also had a good day, except for the Nikkei. The Japanese index opened again on Monday after a holiday on Friday. The index fell 1% to 19,528 points, its lowest level since 18 May. Gross domestic product in Japan grew 1% in the second quarter with regard to the previous year.

Investors finally put an end, for the moment, to sell-offs. Last week equities suffered to safe-haven markets such as gold. German 10-year bond yields fell below 0.4% and the yen fell to the crux of 109.6 yen to the dollar.

In commodities, oil is seeing slight losses, with Brent at $51.7 and West Texas at $48.6. Last week a monthly OPEC report put an end to the price recovery after showing the group increasing its production in July. In forex, the euro corrected slightly and fell below the level of $1.18.

In the macro terrain, there was little reference for investors. During the night industrial production numbers and retail sales were released in China, with highs of 10.4% and 6.4% respectively. Both figures were below analysts’ expectations.