The Ibex 35 opened the session on Friday lower by 0.8% after a day packed with corporate results from major Spanish lenders and companies, including BBVA, CaixaBank, IAG, and Mapfre. The index hovered around 7,857 early at 9:01 a.m., showing little movement as investors digested the latest earnings news and macro cues.
Following a pattern of modest gains the previous session, the Madrid equity gauge continued to trade below the 7,900 threshold, a psychological line that has become a shorthand for sentiment on the market. The broader European market was also sensitive to the same mix of earnings and macro data as investors weighed corporate signals against central bank policy expectations.
In Spain, the October reading of the consumer price index pointed to a slower growth trajectory, with GDP growth for the third quarter easing to 0.2% from the prior quarter. The deceleration was largely driven by softer electricity and gas costs, contributing to a downward revision of annual growth to 3%. The softer inflation backdrop and energy price dynamics appeared to support a cautious but steadier trajectory for the economy
At the stock level, early movers saw Caixabank drop about 4.4%, BBVA around 3.0%, Meliá Hotels International slipping 1.6%, ArcelorMittal down 1.6%, and Grifols down about 1.3%. Conversely, some notable gainers included Telefónica up roughly 0.8%, Cellnex Telecom rising around 0.5%, and Indra marginally higher near 0.0% in the opening trades.
The remainder of Europe’s stock markets opened the session broadly lower, with declines around 0.8% in Madrid’s region and smaller yet meaningful pulls in Frankfurt and London around 0.5%, while Paris also posted softer early moves. The risk-on to risk-off dynamics seen in regional markets reflect a careful watch on earnings, macro releases, and policy signals from major central banks.
Commodity markets also echoed the sentiment, with Brent crude serving as the benchmark for Europe slipping about 1.3% to around $93 per barrel. In the United States, the WTI benchmark traded down roughly 1.5% near $87, underscoring a general risk-off tone during the session.
Meanwhile, the euro traded near parity against the dollar at about 0.9973, suggesting a mixed response to cross-border interventions and divergent monetary policy expectations. Spain’s country risk premium remained around 105 basis points, while the yield on the benchmark ten-year Spanish government bond hovered near 3.08%, indicating a cautious but steady appetite for sovereign debt amid global volatility.