After almost three weeks of recovery, even a better Ifo business climate did not give the German stock market any fresh impetus at the beginning of the week. The Dax was recently down around 0.3 percent at 18,573 points. The MDax reduced its losses and was only 0.3 percent weaker at 25,117 points. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 fell 0.2 percent.
On Friday, the Dax closed 0.8 percent higher at 18,633 points. The latest statements by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell caused euphoria on the stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic. He gave a speech on the financial markets at the central bank forum in Jackson Hole the hoped-for signal for a turnaround in interest rates in September.
Ifo index fell again
The Ifo business climate index from the Munich Ifo Institute, which continued to fall, did not have a major impact on prices. The index fell by 0.4 points to 86.6 points, as the Ifo Institute announced in Munich on Monday. It is the third decline in the most important German economic barometer in a row and the lowest level since February. Economists on average had expected a stronger setback to 86.0 points.
The approximately 9,000 companies surveyed by the Ifo Institute once again assessed the prospects for their future business as worse. The assessment of the current situation was also weaker than in the previous month.
The focus among the companies is, among others, the specialty chemicals group Evonik. Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits his location in the Marl Chemical Park on Monday. There he will visit the Rheticus research facility, which is testing how climate-damaging carbon dioxide can be processed on a larger scale.
Share price slide at Henkel and Meyer Burger
The shares of Henkel and Meyer Burger are heading downwards on Monday. The consumer goods group Henkel announced unspecified job cuts and wants to close warehouses and production facilities.
At the Swiss solar company Meyer Burger, the board said the planned migration to the USA. The project in Colorado is too expensive, which is why the German location in Bitterfeld-Wolfen will remain. At the same time, the company announced a restructuring and cost-cutting program to sustainably improve profitability. Shareholders fled and the shares recently lost more than 40 percent
In terms of individual stocks, however, shares from Borussia Dortmund were in demand. The club’s papers advanced by almost 2 percent after a win against Eintracht Frankfurt at the start of the new season in the Bundesliga.
Given the prospect of falling interest rates, investors once again snapped up stocks that were sensitive to the economy. The titles of real estate groups such as Vonovia, LEG Immobilien and TAG Immobilien gained between half and one percent. This meant they extended their gains from Friday.
Siemens Healthineers buys diagnostics business from Novartis
Siemens Healthineers shares recently fell slightly on Monday. According to a media report, the medical technology company wants to buy a diagnostics division from the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis. Healthineers will pay 200 million euros for this, the “Financial Times” reported on Saturday. Specifically, it is a division of Advanced Accelerator Applications. Novartis acquired the French nuclear medicine company in 2017. Novartis announced that it had received a binding offer from Healthineers for the so-called positron emission tomography business. The Basel-based company had examined the activities in this area and came to the conclusion that the molecular imaging area would be a better fit for a diagnostics company. According to the information, the transaction is expected to be completed in the final quarter of the year.
US stock markets on the rise after Powell’s speech
The Dow Jones index of standard stocks closed 1.1 percent higher at 41,175 points on Friday. The broader S&P 500 advanced 1.2 percent to 5,634 points. The Nasdaq technology exchange index gained 1.5 percent to 17,877 positions. On a weekly basis, there was an increase of 1.3 percent for the Dow, 1.5 percent for the S&P and 1.4 percent for the Nasdaq.
Oil prices are rising
Oil prices rose further at the start of the week after a military exchange between the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and the Israeli army. A barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent for delivery in October recently cost $79.57, $0.55 more than on Friday. The price for a barrel of US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose by $0.57 to $75.40. Both types of oil extended the price gains from the end of last week.
Over the weekend, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia carried out a reprisal attack on Israel for the killing of a senior military commander. In return, Israel attacked numerous targets in southern Lebanon. The situation in the region remains tense, especially since talks between Israel and the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas regarding a ceasefire have remained fruitless.
The Israeli delegation left Egypt after just a few hours, according to sources at Cairo airport. Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Hamas representatives also left the city. There is a “difficult stalemate,” Egyptian security circles reported to the German Press Agency.