The index is hovering near 18,300 points, approximately 200 points shy of the all-time highs reached in late February, just before the outbreak of the conflict involving the United States and Israel against Iran and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
Following the collapse of negotiations last weekend between the United States and Iran, signals of a possible resumption of dialogue between the two parties have restored some risk appetite to financial markets.
Despite the ongoing U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Tuesday that "talks to end the war with Iran could resume in Pakistan within the next two days."
Nevertheless, while hopes for a restart of peace talks between the U.S. and Iran are keeping crude prices below 100 dollars a barrel, concerns persist regarding long-term economic repercussions. Rising crude costs have spiked inflation expectations, leading the market to price in further interest rate hikes by major central banks.
In this context, the International Monetary Fund lowered its growth forecasts on Tuesday and issued a stern warning, noting that the global economy would be on the brink of recession if the conflict worsens.
Nonetheless, corporate earnings published this week in the United States have painted a picture of a financial sector benefiting from first-quarter volatility. Several investment banks announced surging profits, though they struck a note of caution regarding the indirect impact of higher oil prices on clients.
Looking ahead to today's session, analysts at Bankinter indicated that "while the tone continues to improve, we should see a 'quiet' session a priori today, perhaps with some profit-taking or consolidation of levels following yesterday's sharp gains."
"News from the geostrategic front is dictating market direction. The U.S. and Iran will resume negotiations 'in the coming days,' and the market is interpreting this positively. In fact, the main American indices are already trading above pre-conflict levels," these analysts added.
After rising 1.5% on Tuesday, the IBEX 35 was up 2.10 points, or 0.01%, at 18,288.20 points by 0705 GMT on Wednesday. The Spanish benchmark touched a closing high on February 26, 2026, at 18,496.6 points, while its intraday record stands at 18,573.8, reached the following day.
Meanwhile, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of leading European shares edged up 0.01% on Wednesday.
Regarding individual stocks, in the banking sector, Santander lost 0.15%, BBVA retreated 0.60%, Caixabank advanced 0.32%, Sabadell gained 0.21%, Bankinter rose 0.23%, and Unicaja Banco climbed 0.78%.
Among large-cap non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.03%, Inditex advanced 0.30%, Iberdrola shed 0.18%, Cellnex gained 0.23%, and the oil major Repsol rose 0.38%.
(Reporting by Tomás Cobos; editing by Benjamín Mejías Valencia)
