22 May - The Ibex-35, Spain's main stock market index, rose for a fourth consecutive session on Monday, driven by gains in banking, despite concerns about an unexpected breakdown in US debt ceiling negotiations.

While uncertainty continues in the United States about the future of its debt 10 days before it enters default, the markets seemed to focus on monetary optimism following recent statements by the Federal Reserve chairman in favor of slowing rate hikes, to which was added on Monday the affirmation by a member of the European Central Bank that the monetary institution will reach its terminal rate in the summer.

In a context of already high interest rates, the cooling of monetary tightening would allow banks to continue to earn higher interest margins, without having to face a reduction in the volume of credit that could result from a prolonged hiking cycle.

This was compounded by US bank JPMorgan's forecast that its interest margins will increase by $3 billion in 2023, thanks to the proceeds it will receive following the purchase of First Republic Bank, after the turbulence experienced by the banking sector earlier this year.

However, the mood remains cautious in the face of economic uncertainty, as reflected by the lower-than-expected rise in consumer confidence in the eurozone in May.

As a result, the Spanish Ibex-35 closed up 53.50 points on Monday, or 0.58%, to 9,305.00 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks lost 0.02%.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.92%, BBVA gained 0.18%, Caixabank advanced 2.17%, Sabadell gained 1.79%, Bankinter gained 3.78%, and Unicaja Banco rose 1.50%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.64%, Inditex advanced 0.83%, Iberdrola dropped 0.09% and Cellnex gained 0.79%.

The insurance company Mapfre, which pays a dividend this week, stood out at the bottom, with a fall of 2.19% in the session.

The falls in the steel sector also stood out, with ArcelorMittal falling by 0.67% and Acerinox by 0.48% in a context of falls in steel and steel raw material futures, in the face of continuing fears about the Chinese construction sector.

(Information by Darío Fernández)