The Ibex 35 has concluded the week practically unchanged, with a slight advance of 0.04% that has allowed it to settle at 20,050.70 points, after recording a 0.25% increase in the session this Friday.
Traders remain very attentive to the tension in the Middle East following the economic offensive by the United States (US) against Iran and the exchange of attacks between both countries in recent days, a scenario that has driven the price of crude oil to around 95 dollars.
The Secretary of the Treasury of the North American country, Scott Bessent, highlighted this Thursday that "the European Union (EU) has officially joined the Economic Marginalization Operation," the financial campaign promoted by the Administration of Donald Trump against Iran, referring to the statement released on Monday by the European Commission during the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors.
In the geostrategic realm, the United States Army has raised to more than 90 the vessels it has acted upon within the framework of the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, of which 87 would have been "redirected" in this key area for oil transportation.
At the same time, Israel's Minister of National Security, the far-right leader Itamar Ben Gvir, has proposed a program to expel 1.86 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip within a period of seven years, included in the electoral campaign of his party.
In this context, the Brent barrel, a reference in Europe, fell by 0.39% at the close of the stock exchanges of the Old Continent, to 95.23 dollars, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), a reference in the US, dropped by 0.80%, to 90.58 "greenbacks" per barrel.
On the macroeconomic front, it has been reported that the US labor market created 162,000 jobs in August, reversing the loss of 23,000 positions from the previous month and exceeding experts' forecasts.
"For the Federal Reserve, this report is likely not sufficient reason to raise interest rates at the next FOMC meeting. Rather, it mitigates downside risks without adding pressures on domestic prices to an equation dominated by external factors, such as energy prices and tariffs," states the chief economist of DWS for the United States, Christian Scherrmann.
Hours later, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has demanded that the Federal Reserve (Fed) lower interest rates or, in the event that this does not happen, threatened to cut trade with all countries with which the US records a trade surplus.
In Europe, before the bell rang, new orders from the German manufacturing industry were released, which rose by 2.5% in July compared to the previous month, moderating the growth of 3.7% observed in June by 1.2 points.
On the corporate front, the Volkswagen Group unanimously green-lighted yesterday the so-called 'Future Plan 2030', a broad transformation program that foresees the departure of 50,000 employees and a reduction of approximately 50% in its range of models. At the same time, four European plants of the consortium will see their viability compromised starting in 2031 —Emden, Zwickau, Hannover, and Neckarsulm— although the manufacturer's roadmap does not yet clarify what will happen with Seat.
On the other hand, CaixaBank announced this Friday that it has reached an execution degree of 55.7% in the eighteenth week of its share buyback program, launched in May for a total amount of 500 million euros.
In the Spanish stock market, the most notable values up this Friday have been ArcelorMittal (+2.50%), Naturgy (+1.50%), ACS (+1.39%), Acerinox (+1.38%), and Solaria (+1.33%). On the downside, Repsol led the declines (-2.12%), ahead of Cellnex (-1.27%), Acciona Energía (-1.12%), Mapfre (-0.70%), and Rovi (-0.42%).
The main European indices closed the week with mixed signs: London's FTSE 100 ended Friday's session practically unchanged, Paris's Cac 40 fell by 0.09%, Frankfurt's Dax rose by 0.17%, Milan's FTSE MIB dropped by 0.28%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 added 0.16%.
On Wall Street, the main indices were trading with cuts: the Dow Jones lost 0.57%, the S&P 500 fell by 0.51%, and the Nasdaq, the benchmark index for technology stocks, ceded 0.41%.
In the debt market, the yield of the Spanish ten-year bond rose to 3.772%, which placed the risk premium —difference against the German ten-year bond— at 43.95 basis points.
In the foreign exchange market, the euro depreciated by 0.05% against the dollar, to an exchange rate of 1.1620 "greenbacks" in the markets.
Within the assets considered 'safe haven' in periods of high uncertainty, the ounce of gold fell by 1.12%, to 4,489 dollars, while bitcoin, the cryptocurrency with the highest market capitalization, decreased by 2.39%, to 79,402 dollars.