After a cautious start to the week, Dax investors are stalking ever closer to the 19,000 point mark. With an all-time high of 18,990.8 points, the leading German index remained less than ten points below the mark on Tuesday. However, during trading, the gains of up to 0.3 percent crumbled again. The Dax was most recently down 0.5 percent at 18,846 points.
“The stock markets are still being supported by the impending interest rate turnaround in the USA and its continuation in the Eurozone,” commented Jürgen Molnar, strategist at broker RoboMarkets. “If you consider that the index was 2,000 points lower three weeks ago, the air could be getting increasingly thinner.”
The MDax of medium-sized local stock exchange companies lost 0.3 percent to 25,559 points. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 fell by 0.4 percent.
The Dax had a cautious start to September on Monday due to a US holiday. With the ISM Purchasing Managers Index for industry, an important mood and leading indicator will be on the calendar in the United States on Tuesday afternoon, writes Landesbank Helaba. If the slight improvement that is emerging becomes reality, it would be one more reason for the US Federal Reserve not to cut interest rates too quickly. However, the monthly US labor market report on Friday is crucial for American monetary policy, the Helaba experts emphasized. This will decide how big the easing step will be. “A massive deterioration in the labor market situation – which we do not expect – could push the interest rate pendulum towards 50 basis points.”
Oil prices fall
On the raw materials market, oil prices struggled to gain traction amid demand concerns and tensions in the Middle East.
North Sea Brent crude oil fell in price by 0.2 percent to $77.36 per barrel (159 liters). US WTI oil was 0.6 percent higher at $74.02.