Action and reaction. On Wednesday the markets waited for Bernanke to speak and then garnered a clear reaction from global investors. In the Spanish stock market, only the security IAG has escaped from the onslaught carried out by the bears. The Ibex 35 saw its worse session since November of last year. Nevertheless, the airline company created from the Iberia-British Airways increased by 1.58% as it benefitting from a huge drop in the price of crude. Yesterday the price per barrel plummeted to $107.
Spain?s major banks saw the sharpest movements in the Ibex 35. As before, lack of faith in the financial status of peripheral countries prompted losses in Spanish banks. Santander and BBVA suffered the most.
Cutbacks in growth provisions that the US Federal Reserve put in place yesterday did not help.
This cocktail caused Santander and BBVA to drop 4.79% and 5.5% respectively. For both banks, these are the biggest drops in a single trading day since June 29 of last year. Another factor led to BBVA?s devaluation: the bank decided to redeem convertible bonds that it had issued in 2009.
Edited in English by Brandon Dyches and Jose L. De Haro (joseluisdeharo@eleconomista.es)
