The Spanish stock market index Ibex-35 opened Monday's session following the downward trend of the major international markets, in what could be its third consecutive day in negative territory, in view of a week full of macroeconomic data, business results and monetary policy meetings that will provide clues as to the state of the economy.

In the United States this week will begin with, among others, the expected technology results, which so far have kept the S&P 500 afloat. The general consensus is that the technology giants will outperform market expectations, in a context of caution and expectation in the race to monetize more advanced artificial intelligence.

In Spain, the week's major corporate results will begin on Tuesday with Banco Santander and Enagás.

On the macro side, last week's data showed an acceleration of activity in April, suggesting that the economy continues to show some resilience despite central bank hikes, providing some respite from fears of a sharp recession.

However, this resilience reinforces the idea that central banks must maintain, if not increase, pressure on the economy, so further rate hikes cannot be ruled out.

"Friday's closes were near record highs after PMI data in the US surprised to the upside, especially in the manufacturing component which returned to expansionary territory for the first time in six months, with employment and price components up, leading to some bond selling, especially in the shorter tranches, supporting the Fed's message of further hikes and higher rates for longer," wrote analysts at Renta4.

At the moment, markets estimate at 86% the probability that the Fed will raise rates by a quarter of a percentage point at its May meeting. At the European level, bets point to a similar or even a half-point hike by the European Central Bank.

Also expected during the week is a flurry of references that will show the state of the economy, such as the Fed's favorite inflation indicator, or data on prices and GDP in the eurozone.

Renta 4 analysts also highlighted the geopolitical tension "after the Chinese ambassador in France threw Macron's peace plan to the wind by stating that the countries of the former Soviet Union do not have effective sovereignty under international law, which has led to the recall of several ambassadors in countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania".

In this context, At 07:05 GMT on Monday, the selective Spanish stock market Ibex-35 fell 30.90 points, 0.33%, to 9,384.70 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks fell 0.26%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.75%, BBVA fell 1.03%, Caixabank ceded 0.64%, Sabadell fell 1.04%, Bankinter gained 1.00%, and Unicaja Banco lost 0.59%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.07%, Inditex dropped 0.16%, Iberdrola lost 0.38%, Cellnex gained 0.42%, and the oil company Repsol lost 1.24%.

Outside the Ibex, Airtificial Intelligence Structures SA was at the top of the board, with a rise of 3.29%, after winning a contract for a river navigation project in Colombia on Sunday.

(Information by José Muñoz; edited by Tomás Cobos)