Madrid stock market takes a beating

The financial markets are continuing to view poor forecasts of the Spanish economy unfavorably.

Yesterday the IBEX 35 Stock market index in Madrid suffered due to the influx of data showing the Spanish economy in a bad light. This brought about a huge drop of 5.94%, the largest since the decision to reduce interest rates to help the fight against the recession was made some 15months ago. The Bourse points in Madrid now stands at 10’241 – a drop of more than twice seen in other European markets.

Even though recent data shows that profits for last year had increased slightly on 2008, Santander saw 9.4% removed from its share price. Worst hit were the construction companies, with Ferrovial down 11.34%, OHL down 9.46%, FCC down 6.55% and Sacyr down 5.54%.