The Spanish stock market index Ibex-35 opened lower on Wednesday and could chain three consecutive sessions of slight declines, as the market fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve has not yet ended its monetary tightening cycle.

Although in recent weeks there has been a growing perception that US policy rates have peaked and that cuts could begin as early as May, on Tuesday several Fed officials made statements questioning this perception.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller said the economy is under watch following "impressive" third-quarter GDP figures, while his colleague Michelle Bowman said she still expects higher rates to be needed.

Some market observers noted, however, that the aim of these comments would be to shift expectations away from a rate cut and not to warn of a rate hike. In any case, against this backdrop, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's speeches will attract even more attention on Wednesday and Thursday.

In the current session, there will be few important macroeconomic events - apart from an already expected moderation of inflation in Germany - while the market digests the last few minutes of corporate results for the third quarter.

Analysts at Renta 4 highlight the publication of the "inflation expectations to be updated by the ECB, both at 1 year (3.5% previously) and 3 years (2.5%). All this after yesterday's confirmation by Vice President (Luis) de Guindos that the Eurozone's GDP will foreseeably register a fall or stagnation in 4Q23".

On the other hand, Diego Morín, analyst at IG, points out that the decline would be partly due to the market having "(hit) key resistance zones, which means that the rebound initiated since the lows of October has come to an end".

Last week, the Spanish stock market rose by 4.21%, its best weekly performance since the end of March.

At 0803 GMT on Wednesday, the Spanish selective stock market index Ibex-35 was down 23.90 points, or 0.26%, to 9,212.00 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was down 0.36%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.62%, BBVA fell 0.73%, Caixabank dropped 0.35%, Sabadell fell 0.89%, Bankinter dropped 0.43%, and Unicaja Banco lost 0.40%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.92%, awaiting its quarterly results and the prospects of its Investor Day, where it is expected to update its strategy.

Inditex advanced 0.54%, Iberdrola lost 0.53%, Cellnex gained 0.94%, and the oil company Repsol lost 0.45%.

(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited by Benjamín Mejías Valencia)