IBEX 35 
Stock market traders also kept their eyes on corporate results, with the accounts of Finnish refiner Neste and Norwegian giant Equinor boosting European oil and gas stocks.
Speaking at the Economic Club of Washington on Tuesday, Powell stuck to the Fed's usual playbook, acknowledging that interest rates may have to rise more than expected if economic conditions remain strong. However, he insisted that the process of "disinflation" is already underway.
"Powell was reluctant to admit that strong employment may force the Fed to raise rates beyond 5% to 5.25%. He could have used last Friday's excellent employment data to get 'hawkish' hard, but he didn't. It was more important what he didn't mean than what he said," Bankinter analysts said in a note.
For its part, the European Central Bank is not letting its guard down. Klaas Knot, governor of the Dutch central bank and a leading hard-liner, said the ECB should only slow the pace of rate hikes when it sees core inflation, which excludes energy and food prices, falling.
Germany's February consumer price index, expected to be released tomorrow before the market opens, will be the compass for the ECB's upcoming monetary policy decisions.
Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market closed up 54.90 points on Wednesday, up 0.60%, to 9,227.30 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks rose 0.24%.
In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.24%, BBVA fell 0.35%, Caixabank advanced 1.59%, Sabadell gained 2.93%, Bankinter gained 2.09% and Unicaja Banco lost 0.53%.
Logista's results presented before the opening did not convince investors, as the company lost 2.45% on the stock market on Wednesday, despite increasing its profit by 15% in the first quarter.
(Reporting by Matteo Allievi; editing by Benjamín Mejías Valencia)
