The Ibex rises with strength while the bank continues to be the undisputed protagonist

The Ibex rises 1% this Monday, driven by banks. Sabadell, favorite in all pools to star in the next corporate operation, shoots up 10%. Also noteworthy are the increases of over 3% in CaixaBank and Bankia, which last week confirmed that they are negotiating their merger.

Across Europe, banks will continue to be protagonists after the CaixaBank and Bankia movement. It seems that Italy is considering a merger like that of these two entities for Monte dei Paschi. The banking sector, without any doubt, will continue to be in focus and will condition the future of the stock markets in the near future.

The Ibex faces a week in which the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) this Thursday will be another element of great interest. The Bloomberg survey among analysts before the meeting shows that most do not expect changes in monetary policy, while they do foresee an increase in the PEPP (emergency purchase program against the pandemic) of 350,000 million euros for December, extending it to second semester of next year.

Negotiations for Brexit will continue on Monday, but there are no signs of any progress this week, experts say.

For its part, the US Congress returns and will focus on the negotiations of another aid package for Covid-19. A fiscal impulse would be positive for the economic recovery, as well as for the sentiment of the market, they indicate from Danske Bank. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve (Fed) is in 'silent mode' and there will be no news before the FOMC meeting next week. The US remains closed this Monday for Labor Day.

As for the day's data, the session will be relatively quiet. In China, trade data for August was mixed. Exports were up 9.5%, while economists had expected 7.1%, and the previous reading was 7.2%. Imports fell 2.1%, and the consensus estimate was for growth of 0.1%. The July reading was -1.4%. The high level of exports is probably due to the large amount of personal protective equipment that is sold to various governments around the world, experts explain, while the decline in imports points to continued weak domestic demand. On the other hand, it has been reported that the Donald Trump administration is considering imposing restrictions on the export of the Hong Kong-listed company, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation.