Strong declines in the Ibex, with banks, GameStop and GDP in focus

The Ibex 35 and the rest of European stock markets fell sharply this Friday (Ibex: -1.7%. 7,811 points; Cac: -1.4%; Dax: -1.3%; Ftse 100: -1.7% ) in a day in which banks and the American video game company GameStop are in the spotlight. CaixaBank rose after presenting its results and encouraged Bankia to do the same. On the other hand, BBVA fell after publishing figures and dragged Santander down. Siemens Gamesa is also a leading player in Spain after presenting its results.

BBVA earned 63% less in 2020 and 1.3bn in the fourth quarter. The entity has announced that it will buy back 10% of the capital and pay a dividend of 5.9 cents out of 2020. In addition, it has announced "a restructuring in Spain" that will probably imply a cut in its workforce and its network of offices.

As for CaixaBank, profit fell 19% in 2020 and improved 25% in the fourth quarter, to 655 million. This entity has said that it will distribute a dividend of 2.68 gross cents per share also charged to 2020.

On Wall Street, futures anticipate a volatile session amid the 'GameStop case' and all the damage it is causing to the 'shorts', while in Asia bulky falls have also dominated the session.

In the US, it is news that Robinhood and other brokers decided yesterday to restrict transactions with GameStop and other companies that have also been the subject of massive purchases by small investors who act in a coordinated manner. Although this Friday it has allowed operations to be carried out selectively.

However the Ibex loses around 3% in the month and 2.5% in this last week. January has been marked by squabbles between the European Union and vaccine producers due to delays in supply and, in general, by all the chaos associated with the vaccination process. The business results have also been clear protagonists and, of course, everything that is happening with GameStop, with all the implications it has for the market as a whole.

The arrival of Joe Biden to the US presidency momentarily calmed the spirits, but in Europe there is a lot of concern about the evolution of the pandemic and vaccination and their stocks have clearly reflected this. Technology companies have also been protagonists, with the results of many of these large companies and the rises in the Nasdaq.

On the agenda for this Friday, it is worth highlighting the GDP and the CPI for January in Spain. The GDP registered a historical fall of 11% while the CPI rose 0.1% in January compared to the previous month and placed its interannual rate at 0.6%. In Germany, GDP registered a quarter-on-quarter rise of 0.1%, higher than expected. France's GDP fell by -1.3% quarter-on-quarter, less than the -4% expected and after the 18.5% rise in the third quarter.

Finally, regarding the technical aspect of the Ibex, this Thursday it rebounded after approaching the support of 7,663 points. Below we must not lose sight of this level and, above, the key resistance is found at 8,122 points, the maximum of the bearish gap that was left on the 22nd of this month.