The market is pricing in an imminent US attack on Iran which has almost completely changed the panorama of the financial markets in the last hour of business, the falls on Wall Street have been pronounced with the double-digit cuts of Microsoft, the fourth largest listed company in the world, and to which is added the rise in oil, with Brent that has exceeded 70 dollars a barrel intraday and annual revaluations of 13%.
As if this were not enough, Volatility has reached 7% rise levels for the VIXthe indicator of fear, in global markets, while Gold Futures with levels close to $5,600 have marked more than pronounced cuts, exceeding 4% in their cash price and half the amount in the futures of the precious metal, that during the morning accumulated increases of 27% so far this year with a market capitalization of no less than 38 billion dollars. Of course, in the final minutes of the session, the tension dropped to some degree, and The cuts, although important, were moderated, especially in the future.
This whole situation has impacted the last hour of the market on the Spanish stock market, and we have gone from seeing an Ibex 35 on its way to highs to its change of sign to negative and trading below 17,600 points clearly, with a change of bias to negative included.
In this way, at the close of this Thursday, the IBEX 35 lost 0.17% to 17,589.70 points, with the falls of values such as Acerinox 3.43%, MERLIN Properties 2.67% and ArcelorMittal 2.27% and the increases of companies such as Repsol 1.78%, Cellnex 1.72% and Iberdrola 0.59%.
Among the news of the session, the sharp falls of Acerinox stand out. And, after the good recommendations came the bombshell from JPMorgan: it underweights its shares from neutral while drastically cutting, with clear negative potential, its target price to 10.5 euros per share from the previous 12. And the American firm is betting on drops of 18% from its current trading levels.
Quite the opposite for ArcelorMittal, whom it overweights in its rating, placing its bet on value with an increase in its OP to 52.50 euros from the previous 45.
A day in which, in the end, the values that have maintained the rate in the market go through the defensive ones, with Cellnex, Enagás and Iberdrola, supported by Telefónica and Logista. The king of the day, Repsol, in the face of the sharp rise in oil, due to the possibility of an imminent attack by the United States on Iran. Experts believe that if even part of the Iranian supply is withdrawn from the market, crude oil prices will continue to rise in international commodity markets.
In the Continuous Market, it must be taken into account that DIA has presented a preview of its sales for the fourth quarter of the year. The supermarket chain highlights that DIA Spain closed the fourth quarter «with a solid operational performance», achieving a growth in total sales of 10.1% year-on-year, reaching 1,474 million euros. This result is supported by robust comparable sales (LfL) growth of 7.7%, driven mainly by a 5.6% increase in sales volume.
On the other hand, the CNMV has authorized Neinor Homes’ takeover bid for Aedas Homes, aimed at purchasing 20.8% of the capital of its competitor that it does not yet control and which is in the hands of minorities, for an amount of 218 million euros.
Already in the rest of Europe, cuts prevail, while, at the end of the day, the EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.72% to 5,889 points, the CAC 40 rose 0.06% to 8,071 points, the Dax ship a 2.06% up to 24,322 points and the FT 100 rises 0.10% up to 10,165 points.
And on Wall Street plummets for the Nasdaq due to the collapse of Microsoft, which falls more than 11%, its biggest cut since the times of the pandemic.
In the second fiscal quarter, which ended December 31, Microsoft’s revenue grew 16.7% year-on-year to $81.27 billion. Net income was $38.46 billion, or $5.16 per share, compared to $24.11 billion, or $3.23 per share, in the year-earlier quarter. Adjusted earnings, which exclude the impact of investments in OpenAI, were $4.14 per share, versus the expected $3.97 per share.
Despite beating expectations, the company’s gross margin was the narrowest in three years, coming in at slightly above 68%, while forecasts call for the company’s implied operating margin for the fiscal third quarter to be 45.1%. and its most disappointing figures come from the cloud part, from Azure, which has disappointed the market.
Those that have been best received are those of Meta, which shot up 7.5% in the New York morning. The company behind WhatsApp or Instagram posted a profit of $22,768 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, or $8.88 per share, above the $8.23 that analysts had expected. Revenue soared 24% year-on-year to $59.89 billion, compared to the $58.59 billion anticipated by the market.
At the end of the day in the Spanish stock market, the DOW JONES fell 0.70% to 48,670 points, the S&P 500 fell 1.24% to 6,891 points and the Nasdaq fell 2.31% to 23,300 points.
In the rest of the market, we start with the fixed income market, with falls in asset returns. The 10-year Spanish bond falls 0.50% to 3.20% while the decreases are 0.89% for the German bund which is listed at 2.8290. The risk premium moves with strong increases, of 3.10% to 37.24 basis points.
In raw materials, Oil Futures rose sharply due to the increase in US-Iran tension. The crude Brent revalued 3.38% to $69.65, while the West Texas ghana and 3.78%, up to $65.58. Gold cuts positions, but its falls moderate as the minutes pass. Now they are close to 1% for the futures up to $5,285 per ounce and the cash price drops 3% to $5,247.
Bitcoin is now moving with strong cuts of 5.32% while its price stands at $84,813 per asset.
Finally, in the Euro Dollar relationship, it fell by 0.14% for the single currency and was exchanged, at the close of the Spanish stock market, at 1.1937