Grupo Santander carried out its business in an environment of slower economic growth. The softening of growth that began last spring, which was expected to lead to more sustainable growth rates, has in fact intensified over the last few months. The outlook for 2019 points to a drop in global growth from 3.7% in 2018 to 3.4%. The mature economies where the Bank operates grew less, particularly in Europe, while developing ones also slowed down. Monetary policies adopted a more cautious stance, against a backdrop of lower inflation and a downward bias on the economy, while interest rates remained stable in most countries.

The euro depreciated in the first quarter against most of the currencies in the countries where the Group operates.

Against this backdrop, Santander shares ended March at EUR 4.145 per share, gaining 4.3% since the end of 2018. In the same period, Spain's benchmark index, the Ibex 35 gained 8.2%, the DJ Stoxx 50 rose 12.9%, the MSCI World Banks climbed 5.8% and the DJ Stoxx Banks advanced 4.5%.

At 29 March 2019, Banco Santander was the number one bank in the Eurozone and the seventeenth-largest financial institution in the world by market cap – at EUR 67,292 million.

Its stock had weightings in the DJ Stoxx 50 and DJ Stoxx Banks indices of 1.8% and 8.0%, respectively, and 13.9% in the Spanish Ibex 35 index at the end of March.

In the first quarter, 5,259 million Santander shares were traded, for a cash amount of EUR 22,064 million – the highest volume for any Euro Stoxx constituent – with a liquidity ratio of 32%.

Over 83 million shares were traded daily, for a cash amount of EUR 350 million.

Source: Bloomberg and Madrid Stock Exchange at 29/03/2019.