The Ibex moves away from Europe as it closes in red without reaching 9,700 points

The most bullish value of this session was Grifols (+ 2.01%), which was placed yesterday in the lower part of the table. They were followed by Viscofan (+ 1.27%), Merlin Properties (+ 1.07%) and Inditex (+ 1.03%), which continues to reap earnings after presenting its results for the fiscal year 2017 yesterday.

On the other hand, the 'red lantern' of the session was Indra (-2.45%), followed by Cellnex (-1.71%) and Acerinox (-1.06%). Regarding the second bearish company, it is worth mentioning that Atlantia has obtained a purchase option on it in its agreement with ACS (-0.30%) in the Abertis bid.

In fact, ACS, its German subsidiary, and the Italian company have announced their agreement on the dealership this Thursday. In the meeting held in Madrid, the president of the construction company, Florentino Pérez, has declared that "time" has made them think "that this alliance was better than anything else".

CONTINUOUS MARKET AND OTHER STOCKS

Regarding the Continuous Market, it should be noted that Tubos Reunidos and Duro Felguera have collapsed 32.35% and 10.78%, respectively, in the face of doubts about their viability. In addition, in an unprecedented performance, the CNMV has warned investors about the audiovisual production company Vértice 360º, although this has not prevented a rise of 0.54% this session.

Outside Spain, the rest of the European stock exchanges also ended the session positively, with rises between 0.3% and 1%. Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange showed a mixed sign in its three main indices.

CONCERNS OVER PROTECTIONISM

At the macroeconomic level, investors are very concerned about the protectionist policies of Donald Trump. The US stock markets turned around on the last day because President Trump is considering applying tariffs to China on goods worth 60 billion dollars. In addition to tariffs on certain products and restrictions on investments, restrictions on visas for Chinese travelers may also apply.

The protectionist measures that the United States is imposing threaten to give rise to a commercial war with its corresponding economic consequences. Fitch notes that "it is quite likely that trade tensions between China and the United States will increase in the coming months."

In this sense, it should be noted that Donald Trump has chosen Larry Kudlow as his new economic adviser to replace Gary Cohn. Kudlow is an economist and a well-known contributor to the CNBC network. This Wednesday, in an intervention in the chain said that China had won the difficult response it has had from the United States and added that "a great country needs a strong currency."

In terms of data, France's CPI rose 1.3% in February, in line with expectations.

COMPANIES OUTSIDE THE IBEX

Business results continue to be published this Thursday. Lufthansa has obtained a record profit in 2017 of 2,364 million, 33% more. Meanwhile, Société Générale announced that Didier Valet, deputy director of investment banking activities, is leaving the bank "due to a difference in opinion regarding the administration in a specific legal matter," reported Reuters.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

José María Rodríguez, technical analyst at Bolsamanía, believes that "given that the Ibex has closed almost flat, there is nothing new to add to Wednesday's analysis".

"In fact, it can be said that as long as the Ibex does not jump above the resistance of 9,940 points, it does not matter to us whether it trades at 9,600 or 9,900 points," he adds. "The resistance is what it is and is where it is, and everything that happens below will lack technical implications of any kind, and below, on the support side, the 9,500 points," says the expert.

"In the very short term we do not rule out any rebound in the financial sector that would at least lead Santander to the resistance zone, before support, of 5.4-5.45 euros, but in principle the rebound could run out in this price level ", says Rodriguez, who says that" the financial sector as a whole continues to be weak ".

"Telefonica is still holding quite strong in recent days and the best news today has been Inditex.The 'roundtrip' session of Wednesday in the textile giant with a very high volume of recruitment leads us to believe that the corrective phase in the title has come to an end, and we can say that Inditex is compensating since yesterday for the bad behavior of many of the 'blue chips' in our market, "the analyst concludes.