Ibex ends the week flat, unable to hit 11,000

VozPopuli reported on Friday that the resistance tests given by the IMF in March and April do not only present weakness for Popular. The initial conclusions show difficulty in three more banks.

The crash experienced by Popular in the last three sessions continues to worry the banks here in Spain. It’s clear that the situation of Popular is quite specific, but rhw banking sector is quite permeable to any kind of news. At this stage, a bailout of Banco Popular appears to be already priced into the market, after it shares closed at 0.413 euros, with weekly losses of 38%.

As well as Popular, the worst performers in the Ibex were ArcelorMittal (-3.66%), Técnicas Reunidas (-1.81%) Acciona (-1.17%) and Repsol (-1.13%). On the other hand, the best performers were Grifols (+1.68%), Bankia (+1.48%), Inditex (+0.98%) and DIA (+1%). Among the blue chips, Telefonica gained 0.73%, Iberdrola 0.55%, Santander 0.52% and BBVA by 0.32%.

Outside the business spectrum, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are in the headlines once again. Trump caused uproar yesterday after withdrawing from the Paris climate accord. French president Emmanuel Macron said that “the US has turned its back on the world”. The Russian president was interviewed by ten news agencies. He said that he does not know Trump personally, but he appreciates his sincerity and spontaneity.

With regard to the data of the day, Spanish unemployment fell to 111,908 people, its lowest level since 2009. In addition, there were strong losses in oil prices. Brent lost $49, although it recovered and is now at $49.75.

In the United States, Wall Street hit new highs on Friday despite an employment report which was worse than expected. The US economy created 138,000 jobs in the last month, lower than the 185,000 expected.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

“The Ibex 35 leaves us with a bad taste in the mouth after hitting an intraday high above 11,000. Just when we appeared content and following the US employment figures, European stocks (the Ibex at the head of the pile) deflated after attempting to hit the resistance level of 10,984 points,” pointed out Bolsamanía analyst José María Rodríguez.

“This brings us back to the narrow movement of the past two weeks, with the possibility of heading to the support of 10,800 or even further. European banks will take the focus in the next few sessions.”

“In any case, the real support of the Ibex 35 remains at 10,380 points. The possibility still exists that we fulfil that gap in its totality. To sum up, we can say that we have missed a significant opportunity today to surpass resistances and head towards annual highs.”