The Ibex sinks: falls 2% and reaches annual lows

The confidence of the trade agreement took effect on Tuesday in the Old Continent, but this Wednesday sales are imposed again. And strongly. The Ibex, which has been weighed down by the fall of almost 8% recorded by ArcelorMittal and the banking sector, which has continued to suffer severe punishment with losses of 3% on average. They have also highlighted the losses of Telefónica, of more than 4%, after JP Morgan has cut the target price.

Those responsible have been, in addition to the doubts and uncertainty that still remain over the commercial war, the protests of Hong Kong and other political tensions such as the crisis in Italy, Brexit and Argentina, the bad data from China, Germany and the Eurozone.

This Wednesday the German country has released the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for the second quarter, in which the economy contracted 0.1%, which opens the door to the recession. The performance of the largest economy in the Eurozone, which is known as the 'European locomotive' has been in line with what was expected by the consensus of analysts for the period between April and June. As confirmed by Destatis, the German statistical agency, in annual terms the German economy remained flat (0.0%).

Likewise, Eurostat has confirmed the slowdown in the euro zone. GDP growth slowed to 0.2% in the second quarter, compared to 0.4% observed between January and March. On a year-on-year basis, despite the fact that the economy of the euro region grew by 1.1%, this is, in fact, its slower rate of year-on-year expansion since the fourth quarter of 2013. And employment data confirms that it is only growing 1.1% year-on-year, after reducing this rate by 0.2 points. In the second quarter, employment increased 0.2%, compared to 0.4% in the previous three months.

Chinese data did not help, as investment in fixed assets has fallen from 5.8% to 5.7% (a rebound was expected) and industrial production has experienced a steeper decline, from 6.3% to 4.8%, much worse than expected. Also, retail sales have fallen from 9.8% to 7.6%. The economy of the Asian giant does not go through its best moment, and the consequences of the commercial war with the US are becoming increasingly noticeable.

Although the situation could change if, once and for all, the two powers manage to understand each other. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump announced that tariffs on mobile phones, laptops, game consoles, toys, clothing and footwear and other consumer goods would be delayed to December, with the hope of cushioning their impact on Christmas sales in the US. . The delay, in fact, affects approximately half of the 300,000 million dollars of Chinese imports that were targeted, and that were going to suffer on September 1 the imposition of additional taxes of 10%. Moreover, sources from the Trump Administration announced that trade negotiations between US and Chinese officials will also resume next month.

The news of the approach has fallen well in Asia, where the stock exchanges have registered rises despite bad Chinese data. The most prominent, the 1.24% of the Shenzhen, and the Hang Seng index of Hong Kong has also returned to positive territory despite growing tensions, as protesters maintain their riots at the city's airport, which was forced to cancel flights for two consecutive days.

WILL THERE BE OR WON'T THERE BE ITALIAN ELECTIONS?

In the Old Continent distrust and Italy at its focus. The Italian Senate on Tuesday decided to postpone the no-confidence vote presented by the North League of Matteo Salvini until next week, frustrating the expectations of the Deputy Prime Minister of assaulting power as soon as possible. He tried to capitalize on his growing popularity in the polls in new elections, although everything has been delayed by the opposition of what until a few days ago was his coalition partner, the 5 Star Movement (M5S). Salvini intended to bring down the government as soon as possible, but now those in support of Luigi di Maio have forced him to wait. The approval of the proposed reduction of deputies must be voted before proceeding with the motion. The Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, will appear in the Senate on the 20th to explain the new political situation.