market report
After small losses yesterday, the DAX should start slightly higher today. Robust US stock exchanges provide tailwind for German stock trading. The 16,000 mark should hold again.
According to pre-market indications, the leading German index will start XETRA trading at 16,078 points. This corresponds to an increase of 0.1 percent compared to yesterday’s closing level. Weak economic data from China weighed on the market yesterday and caused the DAX to close slightly in the red at 16,069 points.
Positive guidelines come from the USA. The leading US index, the Dow Jones, closed 0.2 percent higher at 34,585 points. The broad S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent to 4,522 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.9 percent to 14,244 points. “Investors are finding that the economy has been really resilient and corporate earnings have been pretty good so far,” said Chris Zaccarelli, investment specialist at the Independent Advisor Alliance.
In the USA, the reporting season for the second quarter is getting underway. In the coming days, Tesla, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Netflix will present their business figures. So far, the majority of companies in the S&P 500 have beaten expected earnings.
Mixed signals on the other hand from Asia in the morning. The Japanese Nikkei index remained practically unchanged at 32,388 points. The broader Topix index rose 0.4 percent to 2,249 points. In China, the economic data published yesterday continue to weigh on the stock exchanges. From April to June, GDP grew by only 0.8 percent compared to the previous quarter. The Shanghai stock exchange was down 0.4 percent. The index of the most important companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen lost 0.3 percent.
In the foreign exchange market, the euro can continue to move higher against the dollar. The common currency is trading at $1.1245 this morning, remaining in an uptrend against the US currency.
Commodity prices rebounded in early trading from slight losses yesterday on the gloomy economic outlook. A barrel of North Sea Brent oil currently costs $78.67. The price of gold is also rising slightly again. The price for an ounce of the precious metal is 1960 dollars.
On the German stock market, auto stocks could be the focus in the morning. The industry is increasingly in a price war for electric cars. Ford on Monday cut prices for its F-150 Lightning Trucks pickup models – for the base model by 17 percent to now $49,995. The company wants to increase its market share in the electric vehicles dominated by Tesla. At the beginning of the year, Ford had raised the prices for electric cars. VW recently announced significant price reductions for an ID.3 model in China.
The German building materials group Steico will in future belong to the Kingspan Group from Ireland. Schramek GmbH, which is currently the majority owner of Steico with 61.1 percent, has signed an agreement with the Irish industry colleague to sell 51.0 percent of the shares in Steico, the company announced. The remaining 10.1 percent will initially remain with Schramek. Steico expects impulses for further growth from the cooperation with Kingspan.
The investment company DBAG from the SDAX has sold the building technology company R+S Group at a profit and is therefore increasing its forecasts. R+S goes to the Swiss prefab house manufacturer Nokera, as announced by DBAG. DBAG made a profit of 14 million euros from the resale. In addition, DBAG takes a stake in the buyer Nokera. For the current 2022/23 financial year (end of September), the company now expects a net asset value (NAV) of between EUR 660 and 715 million and a net profit of between EUR 100 and 115 million.
A group of private plaintiffs have appealed to the US Supreme Court in a dispute over Microsoft’s planned multi-billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The Supreme Court should stay the $ 69 billion deal, the demand. There was no comment from the court. The application is made independently of the attempt by the US antitrust authority FTC to stop the software giant from buying the computer game manufacturer. The Xbox manufacturer Microsoft wants to expand its gaming business with the takeover of the “Call of Duty” forge. The FTC fears this could harm competition.