Ibex ends the week positively, but far from 12,000 points.
Subtle market movements late in the week were highlighted by macroeconomic data from China and corporate results, mainly from US technology companies. Ibex 35 closed the session unchanged despite the fall of some selection heavyweights. Companies such as Inditex, Telefónica, Iberdrola or ACS end the day with the worst performance of the day. Offsetting these corrections we find the banking sector, which, despite the possible consequences that the ECB’s monetary easing cycle will limit its interest margin earnings, the market does not take into account that this could be offset by greater activity in general, as happened with the large banks. financial institutions on Wall Street. We also find positive commodity-related companies such as Acerinox or Arcelormittal. The increase comes as news from China, the world’s largest commodity consumer, posted GDP growth of 4.6%, a tenth higher than expected, while retail sales rose 3.2% in September after only expanding 2.1% in the previous year. month.
On Wall Street, major select stocks are once again trading at their all-time highs. Macroeconomic data continues to pleasantly surprise. The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index just hit its highest level since April, so we see another positive sign in the latest data release for the world’s leading power. The corporate results are also very encouraging. Netflix rose nearly 10% on its earnings call late yesterday, beating expectations in all categories, while Apple posted better-than-expected sales data for its latest iPhone model.
Stock prices in Europe also continue to rise. Today it is the turn of the luxury goods sector, on which the increase in French Cac is based. The stimulus from China is no doubt great news for an industry that has a year to forget. The UK, on the other hand, is slightly behind the rest of its peers as the pound is revalued thanks to strong retail sales data released.
Fixed income is not indifferent to what is happening. Corporate credit spreads are at their lowest levels in two decades, excluding a soft landing scenario, while in the US, rate cuts have had the opposite effect than expected on 10-year bond and mortgage rates. In Europe, upcoming data will dictate the ECB’s path in the coming months.
In other markets, gold and silver are the top performing assets at the end of the week. The main catalysts for demand continue to be geopolitical tensions, uncertainty associated with the upcoming US presidential elections, and inflation risks. Another leading commodity is oil, which is once again activating the brakes on its price with a significant drop in the hope of greater stability in the Middle East.
Investors are already focused on next week with the release of scheduled corporate earnings reports. In particular, reports from Tesla, Amazon or Boeing are expected to cause volatility.
Manuel Pinto, market analyst