The Spanish stock market index Ibex-35 failed to stop the bleeding of the last few days at the opening on Wednesday and was in danger of losing the psychological level of 9,100 points, in a market unsettled by the prospect of higher interest rates and for longer than previously expected.

The horizon of expensive loans, which is rekindling the sell-off in the debt market with the consequent rise in bond yields, was reinforced this week by comments from several Federal Reserve monetary leaders, as well as by a data that showed the strength of the labor market and therefore encouraged inflation fears.

Against this backdrop, the focus will be on the day's abundant macroeconomic references, including PMI business surveys for the services sector on both sides of the Atlantic, producer prices and retail sales in the eurozone (11:00), and, above all, the ADP report on private employment in the United States.

"(Job creation in the ADP data) could continue to slow in September (...), confirming the idea of a soft landing, which calls for a moderation of the labor market that should also be reflected in the official employment report that we will know on Friday," said analysts at Renta 4.

"We will see if this is the case, because the precedent is not good, after yesterday's publication of the JOLTS vacancy survey, which in the month of August was stronger than expected, breaking with the moderation path of previous months (...), thus showing a still very solid labor market and with the consequent risk of additional inflationary pressures", they added.

At 07:41 GMT on Wednesday, Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market index was down 58.00 points, or 0.63%, to 9,107.50 points, its lowest level since the end of May and its third consecutive decline, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks < .FTEU3> was down 0.39%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 1.72%, BBVA fell 1.78%, Caixabank gave up 0.75%, Sabadell fell 1.47%, Bankinter dropped 1.00% and Unicaja Banco lost 0.69%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.05%, Inditex lost 0.94%, Iberdrola gained 1.09%, and the oil company Repsol lost 0.87%.

The telecommunications tower group Cellnex fell by 1.82%, after suffering a cut in Barclays' recommendation (from "overweight" to "equal weighting", reducing the target price from 48 to 35 euros), in a context of punishment for technology stocks due to the increase in interest rates.

(Information by Tomás Cobos, edited by José Muñoz)