After the recent strong price recovery, the most important indices on the German stock market fell back significantly on Wednesday. The dax
was last listed almost 2 percent lower at 14,939 points. The day before, the leading German index had made up for part of its high price losses from the start of the week, when it fell below the 15,000 point mark for the first time since the end of January. Before the ECB meeting on Thursday, bank stocks such as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank came under pressure again and lost between 4 and 5 percent in value.
The MDax index for medium-sized companies also went down again on Wednesday, losing 1.1 percent to 27,480 points. The EuroStoxx 50, the leading index in the euro zone, fell by 0.8 percent to 4147 points.
Before the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday, investors are reluctant for the time being in view of the turbulence of the past few days on the stock exchange. After the recent inflation data from the US investors hoped that the decline in the rate of inflation would persuade the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates slightly and thus relieve the pressure on the banking system. The Fear of further bank failures after the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank as a result of the effects of rising interest rates, which had rocked the stock markets on Monday, ebbed off accordingly.
The Ifo Institute has slightly increased its economic forecast for Germany in 2024. It is now assuming growth of 1.7 percent in the coming year, as announced in Berlin on Wednesday. That is 0.1 percentage points more than the forecast in December. And according to Munich economic researchers, the inflation rate will then “normalize” again at 2.2 percent. For the current year, however, the expectations look much worse: instead of growth, the Ifo expects a 0.1 percent contraction and thus confirms its December forecast.
Eon and BMW at the top of the Dax
On the company side in this country, investors had to process more balance sheets – but these were mostly final figures. The Eon share certificates took the top spot in the Dax with a premium of almost 1.5 percent, RWE gained 0.8 percent in this wake. A trader explained that the final Eon numbers were even better than hoped for based on the key data. Above all, he praised the energy supplier’s outlook. The goals make “a strong impression” and with the planned expansion of the investment program the group is above the expectations of some analysts.
In addition, BMW is one of the biggest Dax winners with a price increase of 1.3 percent. The vehicle manufacturer has raised the target corridor for the margin this year and announced an improved investment rate, emphasized Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois.
Lufthansa continues to recover
At the top of the MDax, the shares of the fertilizer manufacturer K+S continued their price recovery with more than 3 percent. The company had already presented business figures the day before, raised the dividend sharply and announced a share buyback. Meanwhile, Lufthansa is benefiting from a buy recommendation by the Swiss bank UBS with a plus of almost 2 percent.
In contrast, the business figures and forecasts from Lanxess were bad. Börsianer is particularly bothered by the restrained targets for the first quarter of 2023 and the development of the free flow of funds in the final quarter of 2022. The chemical company’s papers slipped to their lowest level since the end of 2022, most recently the minus was 4.2 percent. The price gains of 27 percent at the top in the stock market year 2023 are thus waste.
US stock markets close higher
The stabilization of the US stock exchanges continued on Tuesday after a brief period of weakness. The leading index Dow Jones Industrial closed 1.06 percent higher at 32,155 points. The market-wide S&P 500 ultimately rose by 1.7 percent to 3921 points. The day before, both indices had significantly reduced their losses by the close of trading. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100
, which had already closed positively on Monday, increased by a further 2.3 percent to 12,199 points.
Modest gains in Asia
In Asia, the major stock markets rose on Wednesday. While the plus in China and Japan was moderate, Hong Kong went up somewhat significantly. In Tokyo, the leading Japanese index Nikkei 225 rose by only 0.03 percent after the significant losses on the first two trading days of the week. The CSI index, which includes the 300 most important stocks on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, gained 0.10 percent in late trading. In China, the Hang Seng index rose 1.4 percent.
Bitcoin falls after nine-month high
The digital currency Bitcoin is also falling again after the recovery from the previous day and was last listed at 24,746 US dollars. Bitcoin was previously boosted by hopes of minor rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve after US inflation data. The most important cryptocurrency temporarily climbed 6.8 percent to $25,885 on Tuesday, making it the most expensive since June 2022. Other cyber currencies such as Ethereum and Ripple also gained between 2.8 and 5.4 percent.
In November 2022, the currency plummeted from over $21,000 to around $16,000 amid the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. A year earlier, bitcoin hit a record high of $69,000.
Oil prices are picking up again after a slide
Oil prices rose on Wednesday after the previous day’s losses. A barrel (159 liters) of the North Sea variety Brent
for delivery in May last cost 78.37 US dollars. That was 92 cents more than on Tuesday. The price of a barrel of American grade West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in April rose by 90 cents to $72.23.
They had been dragged down by the bad mood on the financial markets over the past two trading days. The background is the turbulence in the US banking sector. Sentiment among investors has recently brightened somewhat due to growing hopes that the US Federal Reserve will slow down the pace of interest rate hikes.
Economic data from China gave oil prices a tailwind on Wednesday. Economic activity in the world’s second largest economy showed further signs of pick-up in the first two months of the year, including in oil refining, although the overall recovery remains uneven.