Ibex leads the losses in Europe and approaches 10,300
Euro rises 0.66% against the pound to 0.9232, highest level in 8 years
- Meliá Hotels, IAG and Acciona among the biggest fallers
- Only five stocks in the Ibex 35 finished higher
- En castellano: El Ibex 35 se atraganta con la banca, el empuje del euro... y Jackson Hole
European markets closed in the red on Wednesday. The Ibex 35 (0.73%, 10,333 points) led the losses accompanied by the Portuguese and Italian indices, which fell 0.43% and 0.62% respectively. France and Germany fell 0.3% while the FTSE 100 was flat.
Among the poorer performers on Wednesday were Melia Hotels with a loss of 2.07%, followed by IAG which was down 1.38%, and Acciona with a loss of 1.31%. BBVA (-1.20%), Telefonica (-0.89%) and Banco Santander (-0.88%) also found themselves among the fallers today.
All this comes in a day in which ECB president Mario Draghi spoke with little new conent to go off. Draghi once gave away little, but he made the most of his appearance to make an academic defence of his bond purchase programme.
For the moment there is complete calm in European markets. Draghi’s words arrive two days before his speech at Jackson Hole, where he will speak at 9pm Spanish time, and in addition is unlikely to offer much hope for the withdrawal of monetary stimulus.
After Draghi’s words and his expected speech in Jackson Hole, the euro was up 0.6% to 0.922 pounds, its highest level in the last eight years. As a result, it is looking more and more likely that the currencies will reach parity for the first time. Morgan Stanley has said it will do so in 2018.
Regarding oil, it rises around 0.6% to $52.25 in Brent’s case while West Texas as at $47.65.Gold was up 0.2% to $1.293, while Spanish 10-year bond yields rose 1.564%, and Italian bonds were up to 2.118%.
With regards to macro data, services and manufacturers PMIs were released in Europe and were generally better than expected. Further data in relation to consumer confidence will arrive, as well as a speech from Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan.
A session of calm was confirmed after the global rally seen yesterday. With respect to the Ibex, for the moment it remains far from its immediate resistance of 10,444 points. “Closing above this level would launch it towards the resistance of 10,576. Even still, until it reaches the 10,750 level it will continue in the current stage of correction,” Bolsamanía technical expert José María Rodríguez said.