MADRID, 20 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Ibex 35 remained virtually flat at mid-session, down slightly by 0.08%, thus offsetting the 0.3% drop it recorded at the opening. However, this was not enough to recover the 15,300 point level it had lost in the opening minutes of the session, and it stood at 15,292.0 points.
Influenced by yesterday's poor Wall Street data (the Nasdaq fell more than 1.4% and the Dow Jones closed the session flat), both the Madrid index and the main European indices were trading in the red at midday. Only London posted a 0.12% gain, compared to a 0.30% decline in Frankfurt, a 0.18% decline in Milan, and a 0.05% decline in Paris.
Today's focus is on the release of the minutes from the July meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), a prelude to the central bankers' summit that begins tomorrow in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Several macro data points were also released today: Eurostat reported that the eurozone's final annual inflation rate remained unchanged at 2% in July, in line with the European Central Bank's (ECB) medium-term stability objective for the second consecutive month. Prices across the EU rose by 2.4%, up one-tenth of a percentage point, according to Eurostat.
In the United Kingdom, the July CPI stood at 3.8%, two-tenths of a percentage point higher than the 3.6% price increase recorded in June and its highest level since January 2024.
Meanwhile, European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde participated in the World Economic Forum's International Business Council in Geneva, where she expressed her forecast that eurozone economic activity will lose momentum in the third quarter due to the implementation of the tariffs agreed with the US and the normalization of trade flows following the pre-tariff measures implemented in the first months of the year.
In this context, the largest increases in the Ibex 35 were those of Iberdrola (+1.28%), Endesa (+1.10%), Redeia (+0.98%), Acciona (+0.97%), Enagás (+0.91%) and Naturgy (+0.81%).
On the other hand, the largest declines were recorded by ArcelorMittal (-1.51%), Grifols (-1.25%), Santander (-0.84%), IAG (-0.83%), BBVA (-0.79%) and Acerinox (-0.79%).
The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the benchmark for Europe, rose 0.74% to $66.28, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark for the United States, rose 1.04% to $63.00.
In the foreign exchange market, the euro's exchange rate against the dollar stood at 1.1647 greenbacks, while the interest rate on the 10-year bond eased to 3.301% and the risk premium rose to 57 basis points.
