Ibex 35 opened the session higher this Thursday, rising 0.66% and lifting the index to around 9,376 points. Investors are bracing for a pivotal week, with the central bankers summit in Jackson Hole drawing global attention and expectations running high for guidance on monetary policy.
Within minutes of the bell, selective stocks advanced, trading above 0.9% and nudging the index past 9,400 points after a positive finish on Wall Street and gains across Asia, including a stronger Hang Seng in Hong Kong. The early momentum suggests continued appetite for risk as the market absorbs recent regional moves.
Across Europe, the morning brought broad gains. Milan opened up about 0.9%, Frankfurt and Paris posted just over 0.8% rises, and London inched higher by about 0.6%. The day’s trading hints at a constructive mood as investors weigh upcoming commentary from policy makers.
This week’s highlight remains the Jackson Hole central bankers symposium, scheduled for today and tomorrow. The event will feature speeches from the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, among others, with market participants listening for signals on future rate trajectories and economic timing.
Though the main theme for this year’s edition centers on potential structural shifts in the global economy, traders will be parsing clues from the US and euro area central banks on how rates may evolve and what that means for growth and inflation going forward.
In the early trading hours this Thursday, most Ibex 35 components traded in positive territory. Only Logista showed a loss, sliding around 1.1%, while other laggards remained scarce on the screen.
On the upside, the strongest gains were seen in selective banking names. Colonial led the leaders with a roughly 2% advance, followed by Inditex, which rose about 1.63%, Merlin Properties near 1.55%, CaixaBank around 1.14%, and Unicaja Banco just above 1.0%.
Commodity and energy movements also shaped sentiment. Brent crude, the benchmark for Europe, edged down about 0.5% at the opening, trading near $82.77 a barrel, while WTI prices in the United States slipped roughly 0.6% to around $78.39 a barrel.
In the currency market, the euro faced renewed pressure against the dollar. The common currency briefly traded around 1.0858 per dollar, and investors watched the debt market closely as Spanish 10-year yields hovered around 3.49% amid ongoing funding needs and macro uncertainty. [Market data source: aggregated financial market reporting]