Ibex 35 companies have lost almost €80 billion in value since the beginning of April.

BarcelonaThe companies that make up the Ibex 35, the benchmark index of the Spanish stock market, have lost almost 80 billion euros in market value in the first nine days of April due to the sharp falls experienced in stock markets around the world following the announcement of a new wave of tariffs by the President of the United States, Donald. Specifically, the Spanish index fell 10.1% in these first nine days of the month.

A company's market capitalization (also known as market cap) is calculated by multiplying the market price of each share by the total number of shares the company has. So, if a company has one million shares and each share can be purchased on the stock exchange for 100 euros, the company's value will be 100 million euros. Since stock prices fluctuate throughout the day as they are bought and sold, a company's market capitalization also varies.

Market capitalization shows the total value of a company in the eyes of the market. To calculate a share price, investors consider a number of variables, both tangible—the value of the company's assets such as property, machinery, offices, and vehicles—and intangibles, such as its client base, reputation, and prospects for future growth and profit distribution.

At the close of trading on March 31, two days before Trump's announcement, the market value of the 35 companies that make up the Ibex was just under €807 billion. By the close of trading on Wednesday, April 9, the figure had fallen to just over €735.3 billion. In other words, in nine days, the companies in the Spanish index, which are the largest in terms of trading volume among those listed on the state-run continuous market, saw more than €79.9 billion in value disappear. All companies without exception have lost value.

Banks, punished

In total losses, banking was the sector that accumulated the most losses, partly due to its strong weighting in the index. This was the case for the two banks with the highest stock market value: Santander and BBVA. Their shares fell 13.41% and 14.71% between March 31 and April 9, respectively, representing a drop in capitalization of more than €12.5 billion in the case of the Cantabrian bank and more than €10 billion in the case of the bank.

This fact is especially important for BBVA, because a lower capitalization and the fall in the share price have a direct impact on the future of the takeover bid launched for Banco Sabadell: the bank chaired by Carlos Torres does not want to buy the Catalan bank with cash, but rather wants to exchange Sabadell shares for Sabadell shares. The more the share price falls and the less BBVA is worth, the less attractive the deal will be for Sabadell owners.

However, it should be noted that Sabadell has not been spared losses either, as have the rest of the Spanish banks. In the case of the Valle del Cauca bank, the loss in value amounts to approximately €1.9 billion, caused by a 14.2% drop in the value of its shares. For the other Catalan bank, CaixaBank, the market value reduction is more than €7.7 billion, with a 15.1% drop in the stock market this April.

However, if we look at the losses in percentage terms, the main loser due to the bearish fever of recent days has been the energy company Repsol, which has fallen by 22.1%, followed by two metal multinationals (a sector particularly affected by tariffs7 and 3), Arcelormittal %. This has meant that the Madrid-based oil company was worth more than €3.1 billion less on Wednesday than on March 31, while Arcelormittal and Acerinox have lost more than €3.5 billion and €460 million in capitalisation, respectively.

Fluidra pays for its presence in the US

As for the rest of the Catalan companies, the hardest hit was the swimming pool manufacturer Fluidra, with a 14.6% drop in nine days that reduced its market value by more than €600 million. The sharp drop is due to the company's significant presence in the North American market, especially since its merger with Zodiac in 2017. The pharmaceutical company Grifols, also very present in the US, has lost more than €500 million in market capitalization due to the 9.8% drop in its shares, while the multinational perfumery company Puig 8 y 7 lost more than €7 million.

Finally, the real estate company Colonial lost 7.3%, a reduction in value of more than €240 million. And the gas company Naturgy—one of the largest companies on the Ibex—has lost more than €2 billion, a decrease of 8.4%.