The Ibex 35 concluded Thursday's session with a decrease of 0.42%, settling at 17,975.20 points, and losing the 18,000 mark again, despite the strong advance of Naturgy after the improvement of recommendations by Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas, in a scenario still conditioned by the conflict in the Middle East.
On the geopolitical front, United States President, Donald Trump, has described Iran as a "defeated nation" and has stressed that talks with Tehran are "right on the edge," warning that, if Washington does not receive "the appropriate answers" from the Iranian leadership, the situation "will escalate very quickly."
In the international arena, this Wednesday the minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed), held in April, were published, in which it was debated that an additional tightening of US monetary policy might be necessary if inflation continues to rise and above 2%, in line with the central bank's dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability.
In the corporate sphere, after the close of European stock markets, it was announced that Nvidia ended the first quarter of its fiscal year with a net profit of 58,321 million dollars (50,181 million euros), which implies an increase of 211% compared to the same period of the previous year.
Between the international and the domestic, the European Commission has slightly revised upwards its growth projection for the Spanish economy in 2026, despite the impact of the new energy shock derived from the conflict in the Middle East. It now forecasts that GDP will advance by 2.4% this year, one tenth more than in its autumn estimate, which will allow Spain to continue leading growth among the large economies of the eurozone in a context of generalized deterioration of prospects in Europe.
Regarding Spanish listed companies, before the market opened, FCC has announced that it will submit to a vote at its general shareholders' meeting, convened for June 24 on first call, the distribution of a dividend of 0.50 gross euros per share charged to the share premium reserve.
Likewise, Inmocemento, an independent company resulting from the spin-off of FCC's real estate and cement businesses, will propose at its own shareholders' meeting, also scheduled for June 24, to pay a dividend of 0.15 gross euros per share charged to the issue premium. The first quarter accounts of Atrys and Cirsa were also released during the session.
In addition, the Spanish Public Treasury placed 6,055.15 million euros this Thursday in a medium and long-term debt auction, a figure located in the middle part of the expected range, raising the profitability offered to investors in the three issued references, according to data from the Bank of Spain.
On the other hand, it has been learned that the gas sector has requested the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) for modifications to the circulars on the remuneration methodologies for the transport, regasification, and distribution of natural gas for the 2027-2032 period, considering that the regulator's current proposal is "insufficient".
In this scenario, energy stocks led the gains, with Naturgy leading (+4.85%), ahead of Enagás (+1.65%), Repsol (+1.42%), Logista (+1.42%) and Redeia (+0.88%). On the downside, ACS led the declines (-1.66%), followed by Amadeus (-1.63%), Banco Santander (-1.56%), BBVA (-1.23%) and IAG (-1.16%).
The rest of the major European stock exchanges closed mostly in negative territory, except for the British FTSE 100, which advanced 0.11%. Paris' Cac 40 retreated 0.39%, Frankfurt's Dax 0.53%, Milan's FTSE MIB 0.03% and the Euro Stoxx 50 0.26%.
In the United States, Wall Street was operating with declines at the close of European markets: the Dow Jones fell 0.14%, the S&P 500 0.30% and the Nasdaq, the benchmark index for technology companies, lost 0.33%.
In the commodities market, a barrel of Brent, a reference in Europe, was trading at 108.26 dollars, with a rebound of 3.12%, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI), a reference in the United States, stood at 101.93 dollars, up 3.77%.
In fixed income, the yield on the Spanish 10-year bond remained practically unchanged, at 3.535%, although the risk premium against the German bond rose slightly to 43.08 basis points.
In the foreign exchange market, the euro depreciated 0.32% against the greenback, to an exchange rate of 1.1587 dollars per euro.
Regarding assets considered safe havens in times of tension, gold was down 1.09%, to $4,508 per ounce, while bitcoin fell 0.44%, to $77,069.