Santander, BBVA and Caixabank presided over the losses at midday

MADRID, 30 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

At midday this Tuesday, the Ibex 35 widened its opening losses to 1.3%, reaching 10,955.3 points, weighed down by banks in a day full of business and macroeconomic references.

Specifically, the eurozone inflation rate stood at 2.4% year-on-year in April, in line with the rise in prices observed in March, according to preliminary data from the community statistics office, Eurostat, while the underlying has moderated less than expected, to 2.7%.

Along these lines, Renta 4 analysts pointed out this morning that the 2% inflation target sought by central banks will have "potholes" and that it will be difficult to travel "the last mile."

However, they do not believe that the expectations of a first rate cut, of 25 basis points, by the European Central Bank (ECB) on June 6 will be modified, although from that first cut, the data and the The path taken by the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) will determine the amount of the total reduction in 2024. For the moment, Renta 4 maintains its expectation of four cuts from the ECB compared to the three expected by the market.

Likewise, this Tuesday it was published that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the eurozone grew at a rate of 0.3% in the first quarter of 2024, which allowed the region to leave the recession behind, after the contraction of the 0.1% in the last two quarters of 2023, according to preliminary data published this Tuesday by Eurostat.

It has also been known that the Spanish economy grew by 0.7% in the first quarter of the year, the same as in the previous quarter, and accelerated its year-on-year growth by three tenths, up to 2.4%.

For its part, the German economy managed to avoid entering a technical recession in the first quarter of 2024, when the gross domestic product (GDP) of the 'European locomotive' grew by 0.2%, after the contraction of 0.5%. % of the last quarter of 2023, whose activity data has been revised downwards from -0.3% by the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis).

Today, in addition, business results in Spain have continued, with the publication of two large banks: Santander has reported that it obtained an attributable profit of 2,852 million euros in the first quarter of 2024, 11% more in current euros compared to to the same period of the previous year, while CaixaBank closed the first quarter of the year with an attributable net profit of 1,005 million euros, 17.5% more than in the same period last year.

In this way, the large Spanish banks have continued to improve their results in the first quarter of 2024, pulverizing the profits they had last year, obtaining a joint net profit of 6,676.8 million euros, 17.2% more than in the same period of 2023, according to data collected by Europa Press.

These figures take into account the consolidated results of Bankinter, Sabadell, BBVA, Unicaja, Santander and CaixaBank. All of them have continued to rely on income growth in this first part of the year, especially margins, in the face of high interest rates.

On the other hand, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has lifted the suspension of trading of Applus shares with effect from 9:00 a.m. this Tuesday.

In this context, at midday only six Ibex 35 stocks were trading with profits: Rovi (1.63%), Grifols (0.92%), Banco Sabadell (0.81%), Amadeus (0.57%), Endesa (0.38%) and Redeia (0.06%).

On the opposite side, the falls of Banco Santander (-3.24%), BBVA (-2.34%), Caixabank (-1.8%), Mélia (-1.6%), Acciona Energía (- 1.58%), Sacyr (-1.44%) and Repsol (-1.27%).

The declines were the common denominator in the European benchmark markets: Paris fell 0.2%; Milan 0.3% and Frankfurt 0.38%. The exception was London with an increase of 0.46%.

In the middle section of the negotiation, the barrel of Brent was trading with an increase of 0.15%, up to 88.53 dollars, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stood at 82.82 dollars, up 0.23 % further.

In the debt market, the yield on the Spanish bond with a 10-year maturity stood at 3.297%, while the risk premium against German debt stood at 76 points.

In the foreign exchange market, the euro appreciated 0.1% against the dollar, reaching an exchange rate of 1.0731 'greenbacks' for each unit of the community currency.

The interest rate on the long-term Spanish bond stood at 3.328% after adding three basis points, while the risk premium (the differential with the German bond) remained at 77.2 points.