market report
The DAX is likely to start the trading day with price gains. The specifications from Japan are particularly attractive. There was also optimism on Wall Street ahead of US consumer prices.
A friendly start can currently be expected on the German stock market. The broker IG estimates the DAX 0.6 percent higher to 16,790 points a good two hours before the start of trading. Yesterday the DAX moved little because investors were reluctant to take a clear position ahead of today’s US consumer prices. The leading index practically stood still with an increase of 0.01 percent to 16,690 points.
Whether early price gains will hold today will probably only become clear in the afternoon, when consumer prices for December are published. Along with the labor market, inflation is considered the most important factor for the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy and thus for the interest rate level. Helaba’s experts comment that the inflation data would put interest rate reduction expectations to the test, which still appeared to be quite ambitious. Five interest rate cuts totaling 125 basis points would currently be fully priced in by the end of this year, they write in their daily commentary.
In addition to the topics of inflation and interest rate cuts, the balance sheet season is once again becoming the focus of investors these days. US banks JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo will present their results on Friday.
In the USA, however, investors showed courage yesterday. Despite the prevailing uncertainty about inflation data, the three most important indices made gains. The leading index Dow Jones Industrial gained 0.5 percent to 37,695 points. The market-wide S&P 500 rose by 0.6 percent to 4,783 points.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 recorded the most significant gains: with an increase of 0.7 percent to 16,793 points, the index gained for the fourth day in a row. Shares of large tech stocks such as Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia and Meta supported it with their increases.
Japan’s Nikkei index climbed to its highest level since February 1990 on Thursday thanks to a weaker yen. Concerns about an imminent interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) eased in the face of weak wage data and created a buying mood on the Japanese markets. The 225-stock Nikkei index closed 1.8 percent higher at 35,050 points.
Meanwhile, Chinese stocks remained near five-year lows as investor sentiment remained subdued. The Shanghai stock exchange gained 0.1 percent. The index of major companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen gained 0.3 percent.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the first U.S.-listed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Yesterday the authority gave the green light to applications from BlackRock, Ark Investments and 21Shares, Fidelity, Invesco and VanEck, among others. Some products are scheduled to go on sale today. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler spoke of a turning point for the world’s largest cryptocurrency and the broader crypto industry.
The software company SAP will pay around $222 million to settle bribery investigations in seven countries. The U.S. Department of Justice said SAP entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement to resolve allegations of bribery of government officials in Indonesia and South Africa. SAP also entered into a civil settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to resolve similar bribery allegations in Azerbaijan, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania, as well as in Indonesia and South Africa.
According to authorities, the alleged bribery practices spanned the period from 2013 to 2022 and included falsifying SAP books and records to make the bribes appear to be legitimate business expenses.