At the beginning of the week, fears of bottlenecks drove gas prices up further. The European future rose by 20 percent to 295 euros per megawatt hour. The Russian exporter Gazprom had announced that Germany would again temporarily receive no gas through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline at the turn of the month. From August 31 to September 2, pipeline operations will be interrupted for maintenance work. The worsening of the energy crisis hit the euro. The common currency fell below par with the dollar, falling a good 1 percent to $0.9926. That was the lowest level in 20 years.
Prices on the oil market came under pressure because investors assumed that the economy would weaken as a result of aggressive interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. European Brent crude oil temporarily fell by four percent to $93 a barrel. Investors are also pessimistic about the prospects for the economy in China. A drop in demand for fuel from the world’s largest oil importer was therefore feared. The lowering of important lending rates by China’s central bankers made stockbrokers nervous.
Market participants were hoping for new impetus from the central bankers’ meeting in the USA in Jackson Hole at the end of the week. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has recently remained conspicuously vague on the question of whether the Fed would continue to raise interest rates in the event of a recession if this was required by the inflation situation, stated Ulrich Leuchtmann from Commerzbank. “If he wants to clarify this issue, Jackson Hole would be a good opportunity.” Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel fueled fears of further interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank despite the increasing risk of recession. “With the high inflation rates, further interest rate hikes must follow,” said Nagel.