market report
Even if the upward momentum slowed somewhat in the middle of the week: thanks to the recent price rally, the DAX has chances to be on the upside again. The record high from the beginning of April is coming into focus.
Positive impulses from the reporting season in the USA are also putting investors in this country in a buying mood. The DAX rose to 18,226 points in the middle of the week. The price increase since Friday’s low of 17,627 points already totals 3.4 percent.
The April correction in the DAX has ended – this gives experts hope for a run-up to the previous record high of April 2nd. The DAX has resumed the overarching upward trend and is now heading for 18,673 points, explains ING chart technology expert Christian Zoller. The all-time high, which many have already written off, is only a good two percent away, adds Jürgen Molnar from the broker RoboMarkets.
The tailwind for the German leading index is coming from the economic side, as the mood in the German economy continued to brighten in April. The ifo business climate rose to 89.4 points from a revised 87.9 points in the previous month – it was the third increase in a row. This is fueling hopes of an economic turnaround for the better, especially since other leading indicators have recently also surprised positively.
“A spring revival is taking hold in the German economy,” says Robin Winkler, chief German economist at Deutsche Bank Research, optimistically. And Commerzbank chief economist Jörg Krämer emphasizes: “From now on, the German economy should grow again after companies have gotten used to the higher key interest rates and energy costs have fallen.”
Tech stocks are likely to remain in demand on Wall Street in the middle of the week. The future on the Nasdaq 100 index is currently increasing by 0.4 percent, while the Dow future is losing 0.1 percent. US investors continue to focus on the current reporting season.
After positive figures from Tesla, Texas Instruments and Visa from the evening before, investors are now waiting for the financial reports from the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which has recently been under pressure, the Facebook parent Meta and the IT group IBM.
A troy ounce of gold currently costs $2,312, 0.5 percent less than the evening before. Since its record high of around $2,432, the yellow precious metal has already lost over $100. The euro is currently slightly in the red at $1.0687.
Oil prices have not been able to maintain their initial gains and have turned negative. At lunchtime, a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent costs $88.07, 0.4 percent less than the evening before.
Positively received figures from semiconductor supplier ASM International (ASMI) are brightening the mood in the European tech sector. In the DAX, the Infineon share is by far the biggest price winner with an increase of over six percent at lunchtime. Aixtron shares are in the lead in the MDAX, while shares from Elmos Semiconductor are bullish in the SDAX.
According to its own information, ASMI is benefiting from surprisingly strong demand from China. Analysts like the stronger-than-expected jump in profits in the quarter and the improved gross margin. Good figures from the US group Texas Instruments from the evening before are giving European technology stocks an additional boost.
Thanks to a takeover and good business, Deutsche Börse remains on record. The exchange operator’s net profit rose surprisingly significantly at the start of the year by five percent to 497.6 million euros. Revenues rose by 16 percent to 1.43 billion euros. The share price is still in the red, and market observers are talking about profit-taking.
In the MDAX, Evoctec shares temporarily fell by almost 35 percent – and thus more sharply than ever before. At 9.27 euros, it marks the lowest level in seven years. The Hamburg biotech group is causing bitter disappointment among investors with its business outlook: the company is targeting double-digit percentage growth for its adjusted Ebitda. “The consensus was an increase of 140 percent,” explained one trader.
The Jena-based software company Intershop is only slightly in the red. In the first three months of the year, the bottom line was a loss of around 100,000 euros. Intershop ended last year with a loss of 3.6 million euros. The first quarter of 2023 ended with a loss of around one million euros.
The electric car maker Tesla has announced an earlier market launch of new models, pleasing investors despite a decline in sales. Production originally planned for the second half of 2025 will be brought forward to the beginning of 2025 or even to the end of 2024, said Tesla boss Elon Musk.
Italy’s antitrust authority has imposed a fine of ten million euros on the US retail giant Amazon for unfair business practices. The competition watchdogs justified this by saying that on the online group’s Italian website, the purchase option for many products was automatically set to “regular” instead of “one-time”. This significantly restricts consumer choice.
The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is supporting its supplier Spirit AeroSystems with $425 million after the forced reduction in production of the best-selling 737 MAX. The supplier responsible for the fuselage of the Boeing 737 MAX is struggling with financing and quality problems. Boeing itself opens its books today before trading begins on Wall Street.
A gloomy forecast from Kering is weighing on stocks in the luxury goods sector. The French fashion group (Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga) is expecting a significant drop in earnings in the first half of the year after a poor start. The recurring operating result is now expected to fall by 40 to 45 percent compared to the previous year’s figure of a good 2.7 billion euros.
The unfavorable currency development impacted pharmaceutical giant Roche’s sales revenue in the first quarter. Sales fell by six percent to 14.4 billion francs from January to March. In local currencies, however, the Swiss group recorded an increase of two percent. Roche did good business, especially with new products such as the eye drug Vabysmo.
The credit card company Visa earned significantly better in the last quarter. Profit rose by ten percent year-on-year to $4.7 billion, as Visa announced after the US stock market closed. The decisive factor was higher credit card spending by customers. Worldwide they increased by eight percent.