The Ibex-35 continued to show investors' reluctance to take new positions at the opening on Thursday and was heading towards a monthly close with a slight reduction, on a day marked by corporate results in Spain and the publication of important inflation data in the United States.

The storm of quarterly reports failed to shake up a stock market index that has been calm for three days now, with a slight negative bias, awaiting the Federal Reserve's favorite inflation data.

The personal consumption deflator (PCE) for January, which will be released at 13:30 GMT, could reinforce the thesis that the long-awaited rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) are not close or, if it turns out to be lower than expected, it could revive these hopes.

"(Expected) slight moderation in the annual rate in January (2.8%e vs. 2.9% previously) but accelerating in monthly rate (+0.4%e vs. +0.2% previously), and with other upside risks in the background (solid private consumption, stressed rent component)," Renta4 analysts wrote on the PCE.

At 08:07 GMT on Thursday, the Spanish selective stock market index Ibex-35 was down 19.20 points, or 0.19%, to 10,049.40 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.15%.

On a monthly basis, the Ibex-35 was heading for a fall of 0.14% in February.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.44%, BBVA fell 0.11%, Caixabank ceded 0.07%, Sabadell fell 0.37%, Bankinter dropped 0.27%, and Unicaja Banco lost 1.19%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.18%, Inditex advanced 0.39%, Iberdrola gained 0.67%, Cellnex fell 0.57%, and the oil company Repsol rose 0.14%.

Among the stocks that published quarterly figures, Fluidra stood out with an advance of 7.8%, while the travel booking group Amadeus fell by 5.1%.

Likewise, the pharmaceutical company Grifols fell by 2.96% after reducing its profits due to non-recurring items and restructuring costs, and the construction company Sacyr fell by 0.07% after increasing its net profit by 39% following the sale of its cleaning services business.

(Information by José Muñoz; edited by Tomás Cobos)