IBEX 35 
Investors have taken positions at the beginning of the year, in the hope that the major central banks will reach a ceiling in the interest rate hikes applied to combat inflation, especially in the case of the Federal Reserve (Fed), which on Thursday will receive news on the evolution of the U.S. economy.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect US GDP to maintain a strong pace of growth in the fourth quarter on the back of rising consumption, but momentum appears to have slowed considerably towards the end of the year, with higher interest rates eroding demand.
This slowdown could provide ammunition for Fed members who believe the time has come to rein in the credit squeeze, an idea that was reinforced on Wednesday by the Bank of Canada's announcement that it will likely refrain from further rate hikes for now, following the eighth consecutive increase.
"This pause in rate hikes, the first by a major central bank, suggests that they consider current rate levels restrictive, but, in any case, say they stand ready to raise rates again if necessary to control inflation (insofar as the 2% target is not expected to be reached until 2024)," analysts at brokerage Renta 4 said in their daily report.
In addition, investors are also awaiting next week's meetings of the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, in a context of doubts about the next steps of the body chaired by Christine Lagarde after disparate comments from its leaders.
"The economic slowdown is likely to intensify in a context of ECB rate hikes that still have upside potential in the face of inflation that is still far from its target," said Renta 4.
In this context, at 08:05 GMT on Thursday the selective Spanish stock market Ibex-35 was up 45.40 points, 0.51%, to 9,002.90 points, the highest level since November 16, 2021, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks advanced 0.56%.
So far this year, the Spanish selective stock market index has only closed four of them in negative territory and accumulated a rebound of 9% in January (more than 600 points), so that, if it ends the month at current levels, it would represent the best monthly performance since November 2020, when the first positive results in vaccine trials against COVID-19 were known.
Sabadell stood out, gaining 4.76% after announcing an increase in shareholder remuneration and a significant increase in profit in 2022.
In the rest of the banking sector, Santander rose 0.97%, BBVA gained 0.97%, Caixabank advanced 1.63%, Bankinter gained 1.10%, and Unicaja Banco rose 1.84%.
Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.55%, Inditex advanced 0.72%, Iberdrola gained 0.05%, Cellnex gained 0.06%, and the oil company Repsol rose 0.37%.
(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited in Spanish by Darío Fernández)
