The IBEX 35 opened Wednesday with a slight uptick, in a session marked by a rebound in fixed income and caution in equities after weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales reignited doubts about the strength of consumer demand and the world's largest economy.

Following Tuesday's profit-taking, after two days of rebound, investors opted to reduce risk while awaiting new corporate earnings and major macroeconomic indicators.

Furthermore, as highlighted by brokerage Renta 4, fears persist regarding the disruption that AI could cause to the traditional business models of many companies (software, legal and financial services, insurance...), which is leading to indiscriminate selling without distinguishing between potential winners and losers.

Also pending on Wednesday is the release of U.S. employment figures—delayed due to a brief shutdown of the U.S. Administration—in the wake of the previous day's weak retail sales.

The market is forecasting 70,000 new payrolls in January, compared to 50,000 in December, and an unemployment rate holding steady at 4.4%.

"(...) close attention will be paid to the final 12-month job revisions, which in September were estimated at -911,000 positions (0.6% of the total vs 0.2% historically), and which according to the latest forecasts could improve slightly to -825,000," Renta 4 analysts said.

The previous session left a positive tone for debt, with gains in U.S. Treasury bonds, as the market slightly raised expectations for rate cuts after retail sales showed zero growth in December, instead of the forecast 0.4% month-on-month increase.

On the corporate front, Wednesday brings European earnings from TotalEnergies, Siemens Energy, Deutsche Börse, Heineken, Schindler, and EssilorLuxottica; while in the United States, it will be the turn for Kraft Heinz, Motorola, and Cisco, among others.

Elsewhere, markets were keeping an eye on developments in Asia, where the yen's rebound—following the landslide election victory in Japan by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party—was gaining traction.

At 0802 GMT on Wednesday, Spain's IBEX 35 benchmark index was up 30.20 points, or 0.17%, at 18,152.30 points, while the pan-European blue-chip FTSE Eurofirst 300 index edged up 0.01%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.19%, BBVA gained 0.44%, Caixabank rose 0.23%, Sabadell added 0.52%, Bankinter was up 0.24%, and Unicaja Banco slipped 0.36%.

Among major non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.50%, Inditex fell 0.39%, Iberdrola was up 0.41%, Cellnex added 0.52%, and oil company Repsol rose 0.66%.

(Reporting by Tomás Cobos, editing by Jorge Ollero Castela)