The year began with optimism following the Brexit agreement between the UK and the EU, and the approval of the US stimulus package in December. However, this optimism was tempered at the end of January by uncertainties about economic recovery due to the effects of the third wave of the pandemic and the slow progress of vaccination plans, especially in the EU.

Positive trends returned to the equities market in February, backed by the start of the corporate earnings campaign, hopes for the first impacts of the US stimulus package and the effectiveness of vaccines. At the same time, the IMF revised upwards the growth forecast for 2021, with better growth expectations for the second half of the year, thanks to the strength shown by the Chinese and US economies, and the EU recovery plan.

However, caution returned to the market due to the recent rise in long-term debt yields arising from inflation expectations that could lead to an earlier than expected tightening of monetary policy by the Fed. On the other hand, the ECB indicated at its last meeting that it would accelerate the pace of PEPP (pandemic emergency purchase programme) purchases to minimize the risk of a premature tightening of financial conditions.

As a result, the main global equity markets ended a volatile quarter with gains, with cyclical sectors being the most favoured. Thus, the banking sector recorded an overall better performance, the DJ Stoxx Banks rose 19.1% while the MSCI World Banks rose 14.4%, compared to the Ibex 35 6.3% increase and the DJ Stoxx 50 was 6.9% higher. Santander also closed in positive territory with a rise of 14.1%.

As at 31 March 2021, Santander was the second largest bank in the Eurozone by market capitalization and the 31^st in the world among financial entities (EUR 50,236 million).

The share’s weighting in the DJ Stoxx Banks index was 7.2% and 13.3% in the DJ Euro Stoxx Banks. In the domestic market, its weight in the Ibex 35 as at end-March was 10.9%.

A total of 3,672 million shares were traded in the quarter for an effective value of EUR 10,291 million and a liquidity ratio of 21%.

The daily trading volume was 58 million shares with an effective value of EUR 163 million.