IBEX 35 
The selective opened with little daily variation on Wednesday after Ismail Haniye, one of Hamas' leaders, was assassinated in the early hours of the morning in Iran, which distances the chances of an imminent ceasefire agreement in Gaza and raises the risk of a widening of the war with Iranian retaliation against Israel.
On the monetary front, the market digested Japan's interest rate hike and turned its attention to the Federal Reserve, which may give clues as to when it will begin easing borrowing costs at the end of a two-day meeting.
"(...) we expect rates to remain stable at 5.25%-5.5%, although the moderation seen in the latest inflation, labor market and private consumption data should allow for a more dovish tone from Powell, who in his latest appearances has already shown more confidence in reaching the 2% inflation target," said the Renta 4 brokerage firm.
On this side of the Atlantic, the main macroeconomic news will be the Eurozone CPI, which could show a moderation in July from 2.8% to 2.7% in the underlying rate (excluding some volatile items such as energy and unprocessed food), according to a Reuters poll.
In Spain, the trickle of second-quarter results continued, with BBVA (down 1.72%), Caixabank (+0.48%) and Telefónica (-0.24%) standing out in Spain.
Overall, at 07:05 GMT on Wednesday, the selective Spanish stock market index IBEX 35 fell by 8.70 points, or 0.08%, to 11,193.90 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks advanced by 0.97%.
In July as a whole, the IBEX 35 accumulated a rise of 2.29%, after a fall of more than 3% in June.
In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.16%, Sabadell fell 0.82%, Bankinter gained 0.58% and Unicaja Banco rose 0.94%.
Among the large non-financial stocks, Inditex advanced 0.27%, Iberdrola barely moved, Cellnex gained 0.62%, and the oil company Repsol rose 1.23%.
(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited by Javi West Larrañaga)
