market report
Confidence on the trading floor subdued: Germany’s leading index was up about 0.5% at the start of trading. Supporting a strong U.S. stock market. The 16,000 mark is slowly moving away.
The DAX opened at 16,185. That equated to a 0.4% gain after what appeared to be a slight loss in the pre-market business. However, despite a strong performance in New York, German stocks struggled to return to their yearly highs.
“On the DAX, there’s only a small amount of momentum coming from Wall Street right now,” said Thomas Altmann, market analyst at QC Partners. Clearly, investors are expecting a continuation of the price patterns of the past two months.
The Dow, the main U.S. stock index, rose another 1.1% yesterday to 34,951, its highest level since April 2022, thanks to healthy bank balance sheets. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.8%. Japan’s Nikkei also closed up 1.2 percent in early trade to a two-week high of 32,896. On the other hand, weak Chinese economic growth data on Monday clouded sentiment in Chinese stocks: the Shanghai Stock Exchange fell 0.2%.
The prospect of a pause in U.S. rate hikes further strengthened the European common currency. The euro was able to hold above the $1.12 mark, trading at $1.1230 in the morning.
Oil prices have continued to stabilize since the start of the week after sharp gains over the past few weeks. While economic weakness in China remains a burden, major producers are providing support. Saudi Arabia and Russia want to keep supplies tight to boost prices. A barrel of North Sea Brent crude costs about $79.
Shares in Zalando and Vonovia could lead the DAX index with notable gains in early trade. Shares in chemical companies Covestro and Daimler Trucks fell between 1 percent and 2 percent, the bottom of the stock market barometer.
EU car sales rose sharply in the first half of the year. According to the European industry association ACEA, new registrations of passenger cars reached 1 million, a year-on-year increase of 17.8%. In the first half of this year, this meant that car ownership rose by 17.9% to 5.4 million vehicles. The association said the auto industry was recovering from supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Due to the special occasion, the focus today may be on two values of the German DAX index: On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock continued her summer tour of German resilience with the motto “Strong” , together with leading companies in the chemical industry”. In Frankfurt am Main, the Green Party politician first wants to visit the headquarters of Deutsche Bank. She hopes to discuss the opportunities and challenges of growing Asian markets and globalization as well as climate Exchange of views on the form of financing.
Then visited the chemical giant BASF in Ludwigshafen. At BASF, everything is about diversification of supply and sales markets, especially in China. Lithium is also extracted from geothermal projects. This is required for battery production.
A former senior manager will testify today as a witness in the Munich trial against the former DAX Group Wirecard manager. The 1st District Court of Munich invited former board member Susanne Steidl. In court, Steidel will meet her former boss, ex-CEO Markus Braun, who has been imprisoned for three years. Yesterday, fugitive Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek reported the case to the Munich District Court through his lawyer.
The chemical company had to lower its forecast due to weak demand, customers continued to destock, and because it produced products at low prices. Wacker announced last night that a recovery in demand has yet to be identified. Management expects sales this year to be between 650 and 6.8 billion euros, not 700 to 750 million euros. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) should be between 0.8 and 1 billion euros. Between 110 and 1.4 billion euros have been announced so far.
SDAX Group Hypoport sees first signs of stabilization in the property market. The company said the value of real estate sold on its platform rose 5 percent to 2.5 billion euros last quarter. Since the beginning of the year, real estate prices and financing interest have moved sideways, while rents and incomes have risen sharply, which has had a positive impact. Intense discussions in the media and multiple revisions to the Building Energy Act had a negative impact.
ASML is optimistic about the future due to the increasing order volume. Soft demand in parts of the semiconductor industry now appears to have bottomed out, the company said. Sales of the world leader in chip production machines rose to 6.9 billion euros in the second quarter from 5.4 billion euros a year earlier. Profit rose to 1.9 billion euros from 1.4 billion euros.
Microsoft’s text bot Bing Chat will no longer be completely free for commercial use in the future. The company made the announcement late in the evening. In order to be able to continue using the service in a commercial environment, a subscription to the “Microsoft 365” software will be required in the future, starting at approximately EUR 20 per user per month. Prices in USD refer to the United States.