The IBEX 35 closes with slight drops, 0.03%up to 17,649.00 points. Among the falls, MERLIN Properties stands out, which fell 2.59%, compared to the 2.49% that IAG fell. Among the advances, Indra adds 2.54% and Puig Brands 2.04%.
The Madrid selective faced today’s session after a new bullish day yesterday in which it managed, once again, to achieve another historical closing maximum, at 17,654.70 points, and it was the fourth record so far this year. Until the close of yesterday, Thursday, the index accumulated a rise of 0.9% in the first week of January.
In the business news of the day, Banco Santander has announced the closing of the sale of 49% of the share capital of Santander Bank Polska to Erste Group Bank AG, which was announced in May 2025 and has been completed as planned, once the corresponding regulatory authorizations have been obtained.
Erste has acquired 49% of the share capital of Santander Bank Polska and a 50% stake in the asset management business in Poland (TFI) that Santander Bank Polska did not control, for a total cash amount of approximately 7,000 million euros.
Caixabank has informed the CNMV that it has executed 25.11% of its share buyback program during the seventh week since its inception, acquiring around 2 million shares at an average price of 10.4896 euros per share.
It should also be taken into account that Telefónica has submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the form with which it confirms its decision to voluntarily stop trading on the New York Stock Exchange, so, according to the usual times for this type of procedure, in the next 10 days the Spanish telecom company will leave Wall Street after almost 40 years.
Repsol has been one of the protagonists these days regarding the need for investors to know how the situation in Venezuela will affect the company. Today, in addition, was the last day on which its shares were traded with the right to the dividend of 0.50 euros gross that will be paid next week.
Continuing with the dividends, Sacyr announced yesterday after the closing the payment on January 29 of a flexible dividend of 0.049 euros in cash per share or of a new share for every 80 current shares, if the ‘scrip dividend’ option is chosen.
This last option will entail a capital increase for a nominal maximum of 9.96 million euros, depending on how many shareholders choose the cash. The construction company has set January 13 as the date from which the company’s shares will be traded without the right to participate in the dividend, with the 22nd being the last day to request cash remuneration.
In the area of analyst recommendations, Goldman Sachs cuts the advice on Cellnex from buy to neutral. The company is also news since Cellnex Finance has completed the pricing of two series of bonds maturing in 2031 and 2036, as reported to the CNMV.
Continuing with the recommendations, Barclays has raised Banco Santander’s target price from 10.10 euros to 11.30 per share. And precisely the Santander analysts begin their coverage of PharmaMar with an ‘overweight’ recommendation and establishing the target price of 102 euros.
The focus on US employment
In the macroeconomic agenda today, investors knew at the opening the industrial production of Spain. The General Industrial Production Index rose 1.8% last November compared to the same month in 2024, a rate three tenths higher than that of October, according to the INE.
Early in the morning the industrial production of Germanywith a monthly increase of 0.8% in November, as well as its trade balance, which shows a surplus of 13.1 billion euros in November.
However, all the attention of the day was focused on the non-farm employment report for the month of December that the US Department of Labor has published before the opening of Wall Street. In December 50,000 new jobs were createdbelow the 73,000 expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The November figure is revised downwards, to 56,000, compared to the 64,000 initially reported.
However, the unemployment rate drops to 4.4%, compared to 4.5% that the market had anticipated.
With a market that has been processing these figures throughout the day, the European stock markets close the session this Friday with the German Dax rising 0.55% to 25,263 points, the French CAC 40 gains 1.33% at 8,352 points, the FTSE 100 in London rises 0.80% at 10,124 points, the FTSE MIB adds a 0.12% to 45,726 points, while the EURO STOXX 50 advances 1.56%, to 5,996 points.
Wall Street opened today with the Dow Jones rising 0.14%, the S&P 500 opened this Friday’s session with a rise of 0.18%, at 6,933.55 points, and the Nasdaq rose 0.04%.
Finally, we have also learned that the US Supreme Court will not issue a ruling this Friday in the case that tests the legality of Donald Trump’s global tariffs.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei has rebounded strongly, driven by the rise of Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo chain, after its solid results. The index closed with a rise of 1.61% to 51,939.89 points.
For its part, in China, the CSI 300 closed with an increase of 0.45%, compared to the 0.92% that was recorded SSEC from Shanghai. He Hang Seng of Hong Kong added 0.32% and the Kospi South Korean 0.75%.
Regarding fixed income, the reference 10-year Spanish bond offers a yield in the secondary market of 3.248%, which leaves the risk premium with respect to its German counterpart at 43.54 points. On the other side of the pond, the 10-year US bond obtains a yield of 4.169%.
Already in the raw materials market, the oil prices They rise strongly due to uncertainty about the future of supplies from Venezuela and increasing concerns about production in Iran due to unrest in the country.
In this way, the Brenta reference in Europe, rose 2.50% to $63.54 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures added 2.8% to $59.37.
The Euro Dollar drops 0.14%, establishing the exchange rate at 1.1642 dollars for each community currency. Reviewing the main cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin rises 0.75%, to $92,300, while Ethereum adds 0.65%, to $3,120.