The rapid spread of COVID-19 worldwide increased uncertainty and risk aversion, conditioning market performance in the quarter. As a response to the healthcare measures that governments have implemented and which are impacting the economy, in the US and Europe, central Banks and governments are using the tools to counteract the economic slowdown.

Central banks have redoubled their monetary policy efforts, and governments have put in place support packages for businesses and households, laying the groundwork for the restoration of market confidence.

The European Central Bank announced a new asset purchase programme of EUR 750 billion to counter the risk to the monetary policy transmission mechanism, and the Fed cut interest rates twice to 0%.

In the midst of the global health crisis, the disagreement between Russia and Saudi Arabia regarding the need of production cuts triggered the price war that plunged the oil price.

In this context, the main markets reported significant falls in the quarter. In Spain, the Ibex 35 dropped 28.9% and, in Europe, the DJ Stoxx 50 fell 19.8%.

As such, the leading European banking index, DJ Stoxx Bank decreased 38.7% while the MSCI World Banks index declined 36.6%. The Santander share price ended the quarter at EUR 2.218, 40.5% lower.

As at 31 March 2020, Santander was the largest bank in the Eurozone by market capitalisation and the 29^th in the world among financial entities (EUR 36,859 million).

The share’s weighting in the DJ Stoxx 50 was 1.1% and 6.9% in the DJ Stoxx Banks. In the domestic market, its weight in the Ibex 35 as at end-March was 10.5%.

A total of 5,119 million shares were traded in the year for an effective value of EUR 15,595 million and a liquidity ratio of 31%.

The daily trading volume was 80 million shares with an effective value of EUR 244 million.