On Monday the market opened with modest gains, lifting the Ibex 35 to 9,486.3 points as trading began while the US markets were closed for Labor Day. The start of the session reflected a cautious tone from investors across Europe, with attention focused on how the week might unfold for major indices and key economies.
Early reporting showed Spain faced another uptick in unemployment for August, with a rise of 24,826 people, while the Social Security system recorded a fall of 185,385 active commitments. These figures set a backdrop of mixed signals for the European labor market as traders weighed growth prospects against policy expectations.
In parallel, Madrid also watched the euro zone data flow, starting with the release of German export figures totaling 130 billion 400 million euros for July. The month over month change stood at a slight 0.9 percent, and the year over year comparison showed a decrease of 1 percent versus July 2022, when imports reached 114.5 billion euros, 1.4 percent higher than June but 10.2 percent lower than a year earlier. Market participants looked ahead to remarks from senior ECB officials in Germany, including Christine Lagarde and other policymakers such as Philip R. Lane and Frank Elderson, hoping for clarity on the path of monetary policy.
During the early trading phase, several blue chips edged higher on the Ibex 35: Acerinox rose 1.18 percent, Banco Sabadell gained 0.99 percent, Banco Santander added 0.94 percent, BBVA advanced 0.91 percent, and IAG rose 0.86 percent. In contrast, the weakest performers included Cellnex Telecom with a small negative tick of 0.25 percent and Naturgy slipping about 0.15 percent as profit-taking and sector rotation influenced sentiment.
Across Europe, the major stock markets started the week with a generally positive bias. Italy’s Milan market posted roughly a 0.59 percent advance, London rose about 0.57 percent, Paris gained 0.52 percent, and Frankfurt traded up roughly 0.37 percent as investors adjusted to a fresh round of corporate updates and macro news.
Commodity markets mirrored the cautious mood, with Brent crude trading near the previous session’s levels and near the start of the European day at about 88.54 dollars a barrel. The benchmark trade for Western markets remained steady, while the U.S. WTI price hovered around 85.57 dollars. The euro strengthened modestly against the dollar, trading around 1.0791, signaling a muted but supportive currency backdrop for European exporters. In debt markets, Spanish 10-year yields rose to about 3.585 percent as investors weighed sovereign risk and policy guidance amid a busy calendar of data releases and central bank commentary.