The German stock market moved up at different speeds on Thursday. While papers from the second and third row mainly posted gains, the standard values had a hard time. Accordingly, the dax
at the Xetra close of trading by 0.3 percent to 15,133 points. Losses on the heavily weighted SAP share contributed to the comparatively slow pace.
The MDax went up significantly more by 1.3 percent to 28,791 points, the EuroStoxx 50 gained around 0.6 percent to 4174 places. Clearly positive signals came from the USA, especially the Tesla papers shone with a jump in price.
SAP announces layoffs and drop in profits
In Germany, Europe’s largest software house SAP opened the hot phase of the domestic balance sheet season as usual. SAP reached with a decent final quarter in day-to-day business his annual goals. In the fourth quarter, the Walldorfer met the expectations of analysts. For 2023, SAP has set cautious financial targets and the sales outlook is at the lower end of analysts’ expectations. The estimates for the operating result are on average within the range targeted by the group. With the announced reduction of 3,000 jobs, SAP joins the latest wave of layoffs in the global technology industry. The company wants to reduce annual costs by 350 million euros. In addition, the board is considering selling its US subsidiary Qualtrics. The bouquet ultimately led to significant losses. The price initially fell sharply, but at the end of the day the minus was reduced to just 0.9 percent.
Sartorius at the top of the Dax
After another strong year with significant sales and earnings growth, the pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier Sartorius is preparing for a slower pace. For 2023, the Dax company is targeting an increase in sales based on constant currencies in the lower single-digit range. According to preliminary calculations, revenue increased by a nominal 21 percent in 2022; adjusted for exchange rate effects, this was an increase of 15 percent. Operating profit (adjusted Ebitda) climbed by a fifth. The Sartorius shares rose by 6.5 percent.
US investors ‘torn’
Robust US economic data and surprisingly strong quarterly figures from Tesla
push Wall Street. The Dow Jones index of standard values was up 0.27 percent on Thursday at 33,836 points. The broader S&P 500 gained 0.62 percent to 4,041 points. The index of the technology exchange Nasdaq 100
climbed 1.32 percent. “Investors are torn between upbeat forecasts from Tesla, bleak prospects for IBM and Mastercard, and a strong US economy that shows no signs of weakness at all,” said Konstantin Oldenburger, an analyst at brokerage CMC Markets.
The growth of the US economy by 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter is at least reassuring for those who are worried about an approaching recession, said Oldenburger. But such strong economic growth could also prompt the US Federal Reserve to aggressively put the brakes on interest rates in an effort to fight inflation. A possible break after another increase in the coming week could be a long way off. A positive sign, however, is the fact that the major indices on Wall Street still have three trading days in January to reach their December highs and thus also take another step on the path to a sustainable recovery as a laggard.
Electric car maker Tesla in the spotlight
Tesla was in the spotlight with a price increase of 9.5 percent to $ 158.09. The net profit of the world’s largest electric car maker jumped in the fourth quarter by almost 60 percent to $ 3.7 billion
.
Disappointing results and a planned job cut put on the other hand to IBM. The titles of the IT group fell by 4.4 percent to $ 135.33 – the highest level in almost three months.
The prospect of stock buybacks is a tailwind for Chevron. The oil giant’s shares rose 4.1 percent to $149.95 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company plans to triple its share buyback budget to $75 billion.
A gloomy prognosis for Mastercard: The shares of the credit card provider fell by 1.6 percent. The group anticipates growth in the upper end of the single-digit range. According to data from Refinitiv, analysts expected an even stronger increase of 10.7 percent. Unlike its rival Visa, Mastercard benefited from the opening of borders and the increasing desire to travel in the Asia-Pacific region and was thus able to compensate for higher costs.
Inconsistent directions in Asia
After a strong week so far, investors on the Tokyo stock exchange held back on Thursday. The leading Japanese index Nikkei 225 closed at 27,363 points, 0.1 percent lower. The Hang Seng index of the Chinese special administrative region of Hong Kong caught up with the recent strong development of the other markets after a three-day holiday break with an increase of around 2 percent. In mainland China, there is still no trading due to the celebrations surrounding the Lunar New Year.
Bitcoin at $23,000
The digital currency Bitcoin is still under pressure and was last listed at 23,030 US dollars. In November 2022, the currency plummeted from over $21,000 to around $16,000 on the back of the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. A year earlier, bitcoin hit a record high of $69,000.
oil prices rise
Oil prices rose slightly on Thursday. In the late afternoon, a barrel (159 liters) of the North Sea variety cost Brent
for delivery in March $87.28. That was $1.13 more than the day before. The price of a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) grade rose by $1.09 to $81.24.
Oil prices were supported by better than expected economic data from the USA. Both the economic growth in the fourth quarter and the weekly data from the labor market surprised on the upside. Durable goods orders and housing market data were also better than expected. Robust economic development also supports demand for crude oil.