18 May - Spain's main Ibex-35 closed almost flat on Thursday amid uncertainty in U.S. markets over a possible deal to avoid a default on the country's debt and the mixed outlook for Walmart and Cisco after releasing their first-quarter results.

"Perhaps that low probability is even lower and removing that risk is positive, because, of course, if there was a default or a delay in payments, the U.S. would probably fall into a recession."

Among the day's macroeconomic references, April existing home sales in the United States came in below estimates, while the number of new applications for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, suggesting that the labor market remains tight.

Spain's Ibex-35 closed 1.50 points higher on Thursday, up 0.02%, at 9,213.10 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks rose 0.48%.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.55%, BBVA gained 1.51%, Caixabank advanced 0.80%, Sabadell gained 1.34%, and Bankinter gained 0.81%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.05%, Inditex advanced 0.13%, Iberdrola dropped 1.33%, Cellnex fell 1.58%, and the oil company Repsol rose 0.98%.

Among the rest of the electricity companies, Naturgy fell 2.02%, while Endesa dropped 0.96%.

(Information by Benjamín Mejías Valencia; additional information by Elizabeth Howcroft; edited by Javier Leira)