Cierre de mercados · Radio Intereconomía

Cierre de Mercados 01/04/2026

April 1, 2026·54 min·4 clips

The IBEX 35 surges 2.74% as markets bet on a possible end to the Middle East war, but the Strait of Hormuz remains a critical flashpoint.

1. Cierre de Mercados on Radio Inter Economía covers the April 1, 2026 session with IBEX 35 at 17,519 points (+2.74%) amid broad European gains as markets price in a potential Iran war resolution within weeks. 2. Host Gema González and analyst Elena Canosa deliver macroeconomic data, while professor emeritus José Ramón Pein provides political and economic commentary from the Mediterranean. 3. British maritime authorities warned the same day that a tanker was struck by two projectiles near Qatar, undercutting the market optimism about Hormuz reopening. 4. The Brent barrel briefly fell below $100 but bounced to $101.14 (-2.72%), with WTI at $98.98 (-2.37%), reflecting continued war risk premium. 5. EUR/USD is at 1.16, with three-month forecasts at 1.16, six-month at 1.18, and one-year at 1.20. 6. The Eurozone manufacturing PMI came in at 51.5 for March (up from 50.8 in February), but according to S&P Global the war has driven factory input price inflation to its highest level since end-2022. 7. Spain's manufacturing PMI fell to 48.7 in March — its lowest since April 2025 and back in contraction — with new orders, production, and business confidence all falling. 8. ECB member Gabriel Makhlouf warned that a prolonged Middle East war would drive the Eurozone toward a worse economic scenario than what the ECB projected the prior month. 9. European Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen stated that 30 days of conflict had already added 14 billion euros to the EU's fossil fuel import bill. 10. Eurozone unemployment rose to 6.2% in February from 6.1% in January, with 13.11 million unemployed across the EU; youth unemployment hit 15.3%. 11. Spain received 5.6 million foreign tourists in February spending 7.6 billion euros; the first two months of 2026 totalled 10.7 million tourists and a record 15.4 billion euros in spending. 12. France's Prime Minister Sébastien Le Corny instructed ministers to identify priority actions to electrify the economy and reduce fossil fuel dependence, proposing to fund these via windfall fuel tax revenues. 13. Spanish banking sector profits in January 2026 hit 7,580 million euros — the highest single-month figure since January 2025 when profits exceeded 11 billion euros — with mortgage counts up 99.7% year-on-year. 14. Professor José Ramón Pein discusses Trump leaving NATO as an existential scenario for European defence, noting that without the US, NATO's 'vertebral military force' would not exist. 15. Pein describes De la Rocha, an economist in the Moncloa complex, as a Fouché-type operative who personally communicated Telefónica president Pallete's resignation and orchestrated both the entry and exit of Indra's Ángel Escribano. 16. He connects the appointment of new ministers Cuerpo and Arcadia España to Sánchez's attempt to rebuild relations with Spanish business ahead of an anticipated end to his time in government. 17. Pein presents data showing Spanish IRPF income tax receipts rose 90% between 2018 and 2025, from approximately 87 billion to 160 billion euros, achieving a 2025 fiscal deficit of 2.2% of GDP. 18. He argues the 90% tax revenue increase far outpaces any equivalent income growth for Spanish households, describing it as a hidden extraction from the salaried middle class and the self-employed. 19. The episode also covers: Spain's digital ID launch for April 2 (discussed with SEDEMON digital director David Blanch), Stellantis's recall of 700,000 vehicles for a fire risk defect across Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, and Lancia brands, and Spain's economics Olympics for 14-18-year-olds with 200+ participants. 20. The episode will interest Spanish-speaking investors and policy watchers tracking Iran war market impacts, Spanish political economy, European manufacturing data, and macroeconomic risks.

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