IBEX 35 
Comments on Wednesday by several U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers helped to further cool speculation about a rapid decline in borrowing costs, signaling their desire to be more confident that inflation is slowing and offering a number of reasons to feel little urgency to begin easing monetary policy soon.
Elsewhere, the market remained concerned about the state of U.S. regional banks in light of market jitters around New York Community Bancorp, which is under pressure because of its exposure to the real estate sector.
In this regard, Renta 4 analysts highlight the statements made by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who said that losses in commercial real estate "are a concern and deserve careful monitoring because of the losses they could entail for the banking system and the associated financial instability".
"We will continue to watch to see if we are dealing with a specific risk or with a risk of contagion to the rest of the sector," these analysts added in their morning report.
The day will be light on macroeconomic indicators - apart from the weekly U.S. unemployment report - and the focus will remain on quarterly corporate earnings reports and negotiations for a new truce in Gaza.
Against this backdrop, at 0815 GMT on Thursday, the selective Spanish stock market index Ibex-35 was up 26.40 points, or 0.27%, to 9,914.60 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.13%.
In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.72%, BBVA gained 0.67%, Caixabank advanced 0.69%, Sabadell gained 0.58%, Bankinter gained 0.76%, and Unicaja Banco lost 0.21%.
Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.19%, Inditex advanced 0.39%, Iberdrola lost 0.14%, Cellnex gained 0.09%, and the oil company Repsol lost 0.26%.
(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited by Benjamín Mejías Valencia)
