The Dax continues to tread water: just below the 16,000 point mark on Monday, investors initially lacked the willingness to buy. The leading German index was recently listed slightly in the red at 15,874 points. The MDax of medium-sized stocks was 0.3 percent higher. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 lost 0.2 percent.
Figures from the US tech giants this week, ifo index slightly up
There could be movement in the Dax if some large US companies from the technology sector such as Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft announce their quarterly reports this week.
On the economic side, impetus could come from the Ifo index in the morning. The mood in the German economy improved in April for the sixth month in a row. The barometer for the business climate climbed to 93.6 points from 93.2 points in March, as the Munich Ifo Institute announced on Monday in its survey of around 9,000 top managers. The mood is better than it has been since the outbreak of the Ukraine war in February 2022.
Economists had expected an increase to 94.0 points. “German companies are less concerned, but the economy is lacking momentum,” said Ifo President Clemens Fuest. Managers assessed their situation somewhat more skeptically than recently, but their business prospects are better.
At the beginning of the week, shares of companies from the SDax small-cap index were particularly in focus on the market, above all Darmstadt-based Software AG. The technology investment company Silver Lake wants to take it over and is offering shareholders 30 euros per share. Silver Lake, the company would be worth 2.2 billion euros. Software AG shares soared by 50 percent to almost 30 euros in the morning.
The steel manufacturer Salzgitter started the current year better than expected, but only confirmed the targets for the current year. “Regardless of the strong start to the year, we are sticking to our sales and earnings forecast of March 27 due to the politically and economically volatile environment.” Most recently, the shares fell by 2.2 percent.
SGL Carbon went up 4.4 percent. The carbon specialist’s stocks benefited from a buy recommendation from Berenberg Bank. The silicon carbide-related business is driving profitability, according to analyst Thomas Junghanns.
In the Dax, Siemens Healthineers
US stock markets little changed
Price movements on the US stock exchanges came to an almost complete standstill by the end of trading on Friday, which was already lethargic. Due to a lack of impetus, the Dow Jones Industrial closed up 0.07 percent at 33,808.96 points. On a weekly basis, the leading index recorded a narrow loss. The broader S&P 500 gained 0.09 percent to 4133.52 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index rose 0.11 percent to 13,000.77 points.
Neither the lack of company news nor the better-than-expected US purchasing managers’ indices from S&P for the manufacturing and service sectors for April had a discernible impact on prices. The much older ISM indicator, which will be on the agenda later in the month, is attracting more attention on the market.
Bitcoin falls below $28,000
The digital currency Bitcoin was last listed at $ 27,900, continuing its recent weakness. 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 continue to fall
At the beginning of the week, oil prices continued their weak trend of the previous week. On Monday morning, a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent for delivery in June cost 80.75 US dollars. That was 91 cents less than on Friday. The price of a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) grade fell by a similar amount to $76.97.
Oil prices have come under significant pressure over the past week. The bottom line was that prices fell by around four dollars. The decisive factors were predominantly weak economic data from the USA, which gave rise to new concerns about the economy.
A counterweight is provided by significant production cuts by large producing countries such as Saudi Arabia. However, crude oil prices have now almost completely given up the premiums they had achieved after the surprising cut.