It keeps adding up. On a day without European references, the Ibex 35 has gone from strength to strength and has managed to surpass the 17,000 points for the first time in its history. Now, it only remains to confirm at the close of the session this new milestone in a record year for the Spanish stock market. Never before has the national selective index managed to achieve annual gains that already exceed 45% with three weeks left to close the year. It is by far the best European index and multiplies by 2.5 times the gains recorded by indices such as the S&P 500 in the year, at 17%.
The rest of the European indices opened today's trading session positively. Specifically, Milan and Frankfurt were up 0.4% each, London rose by 0.33%, and Paris by 0.12%.
2025 has undoubtedly been the year of defense investment. Europe proclaimed loudly the need to increase spending in this sector with Germany at the forefront. Last spring, the German country gave the green light to a historic spending package of 500 billion euros (expandable by another 300 billion) aimed at improving the country's infrastructure and its defense sector amid growing fears of an offensive by Russia. In Spain, within a fragmented sector of very small firms, the only listed reference is Indra, where investors have concentrated all their purchases. It is the most bullish company on the Spanish stock exchange with gains of 188% in the year and in the midst of a transition towards a merger with Escribano.
But, in addition to the year of defense, in Europe, the big protagonists have been the banks. After a nearly decade-long desert journey, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided in 2023 to take a step forward and begin an uninterrupted escalation in the level of interest rates in the eurozone, the financial sector's lifeline that had remained at zero levels for years. Today, with stable rates above the historical threshold of 2% considered neutral for the sector, the Spanish banking sector has managed to earn market recognition, at least, for the value of its books. This means trading at a multiple of more than 1 times equity, unthinkable a few years ago.
Within the Ibex 35, the good performance of the financial sector is exemplified by gains of 109% for Banco Santander, which has doubled its market capitalization in the last twelve months to 146 billion euros, with its shares at 2009 highs. There are three more banks that have managed to double their market value in the last twelve months. They are Unicaja, with a 108% appreciation, BBVA, now worth more than 112 billion euros; and CaixaBank, which places its shares at historical highs, with a valuation of over 72 billion euros.
Bankinter and Sabadell rise by 84% and 74%, respectively. Mapfre, also within the financial sector, records a 65% increase in the year.
On the downside, the standout losses include the 24% drop of Cellnex this year. Puig Brands, a high-end perfumery firm that debuted on the stock market last year, falls another 21%, and it has not been a good year for Telefónica either, with a 14% decline amid an ERE and the change in direction that Marc Murtra has wanted to implement, including the dividend cut.
Futures on the main Wall Street indicators are currently indicating a mixed opening.
In Asia, where Japan has released the industrial production data for October, which rose by 1.5% monthly, below the 2.6% from the previous month, the Nikkei in Tokyo has advanced by 1.37%; the Shanghai Stock Exchange by 0.41%; and the Hang Seng by 1.73%.
The price of a barrel of crude oil Brent, a reference in Europe, rose by 0.5%, reaching $61.58, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), a reference in the United States, registered a 0.6% increase, reaching $55.93.
In the foreign exchange market, the euro against the dollar was at 1.1738 'greenbacks', while the yield on the 10-year bond dropped to 3.298%.