market report
Even in the middle of the week, the DAX advances in tiny steps at best. The 16,000 point mark remains dangerously close. The US stock exchanges put a small price rally on the floor in the evening.
According to pre-market indications, the leading German index should start trading on XETRA at 16,118 points. This corresponds to a small minus of 0.05 percent compared to the closing level of yesterday, when the DAX was able to increase 0.4 percent to 16,125 points.
The lack of desire to buy on the German stock market is a little surprising because the US stock exchanges closed much higher in the evening. The Dow Jones index rose again after the recent rally, up 1.1 percent to 34,951 – the highest level since April 2022. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.8 percent to 14,353 and the broader S&P 500 rose 0. 7 percent to 4554 points.
The US indices had primarily reacted to good quarterly figures from the two major banks, Bank of America and Morgen Stanley. Higher interest income gave Bank of America a nearly 20 percent jump in profit in the second quarter. The share gained 4.4 percent. Competitor Morgan Stanley also scored well with investors. The decline in earnings due to the slack in the merger business was less than expected.
Different signals are coming from the stock markets in Asia in the morning. The 225-stock Nikkei index rose more than one percent to a two-week high of 32,810 points. All 33 industrial stocks on the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose. On the other hand, the weak Chinese growth data from Monday clouded the mood on the Chinese stock exchanges: The stock exchange in Shanghai was 0.2 percent in the red. The index of the most important companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen lost 0.4 percent.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro can remain above the 1.12 dollar mark. The prospect of a pause in US interest rate hikes is strengthening the European common currency, which is currently trading at $1.1220. Oil prices were hardly changed in the morning. A barrel of North Sea Brent costs around 79 dollars. The price of an ounce of gold is 1975 dollars.
The focus today could be on two DAX values because of a special occasion: This Wednesday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is continuing her summer trip to Germany’s resilience with visits to leading companies in the banking and chemical industries under the motto “Strong together”. In Frankfurt am Main, the Greens politician first wants to visit the headquarters of Deutsche Bank. She wants to exchange views on the opportunities and challenges of the growing Asian market and globalization as well as forms of climate finance.
This is followed by a visit to the chemical giant BASF in Ludwigshafen. At BASF, it’s all about the diversification of supply and sales markets, especially with regard to China. Lithium is also extracted from the geothermal project. This is required for the production of batteries.
In the Munich trial against managers of the former DAX group Wirecard, a former top manager is to testify as a witness today. The district court of Munich I has invited the former board member Susanne Steidl. Steidl will meet her former boss in court: the ex-CEO Markus Braun, who has been in custody for three years. The public prosecutor considers Braun to be a main perpetrator. Yesterday, the fugitive Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek reported to the Munich district court via his lawyer.
Bing Chat, the text robot from Microsoft, will no longer be completely free for commercial use in the future. The company announced this in the evening. In order to be able to continue using the service in a commercial environment, a software subscription to “Microsoft 365” will be required in the future, which is available from around 20 euros per month per user. The prices in US dollars refer to the USA.
Because of weak demand, ongoing destocking by customers, but also because of low prices for the products produced, the chemical company has had to lower its forecasts. A recovery in demand has not yet been identified, Wacker announced last night. Management expects sales this year to be between 6.5 and 6.8 billion euros instead of 7 to 7.5. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) should be between 0.8 and 1 billion euros. So far, 1.1 to 1.4 billion euros had been announced.
The US cosmetics group is the target of a hacker attack. The company is working to determine the nature and extent of the stolen data, Estee Lauder said. It is still unclear which data the hackers gained access to. The incident is being investigated in close cooperation with law enforcement authorities and cyber security experts. In addition, some of the systems were proactively shut down to limit the damage. The incident is expected to disrupt operations in some areas.