market report
The broker IG estimates the DAX 0.3 percent higher to 15,700 points before the XETRA launch. Yesterday, the leading German index closed 0.4 percent lower at 15,654 points.
The European Central Bank (ECB)’s interest rate decision is due today and will be announced at 2:15 p.m. Investors expect a close decision. Recently, however, more market participants had priced in an interest rate move, as Commerzbank analyst Michael Leister writes.
It has been a long time since there was so much uncertainty about whether interest rates would be increased further or not, Helaba said: “There also seems to be disagreement within the ECB, because ultimately the data situation is difficult to assess. While the economic “If the outlook is clouded, the decline in inflation will only occur slowly,” write the Helaba experts in their daily outlook.
Sentiment on Wall Street remains subdued given the high inflation in the USA. The Dow Jones index of standard stocks closed yesterday 0.2 percent lower at 34,575 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq, on the other hand, advanced 0.3 percent to 13,813 points. The broad S&P 500 gained 0.1 percent to 4,467 points.
Consumer prices in the USA rose surprisingly sharply by 3.7 percent in August. However, core inflation, which the US Federal Reserve Bank paid more attention to, fell. The strongly fluctuating energy and food prices are excluded here. “This is ultimately good news for the Fed, and investors’ hopes of a rate break at next week’s meeting have been given new fuel,” said market analyst Konstantin Oldenburger from CMC Markets.
Relief from the downward trend in US core inflation has boosted investors’ buying mood in Japan. The Nikkei index, which includes 225 stocks, rose by 1.1 percent to 33,049 points. The broader Topix index rose 0.7 percent to 2,395 points.
The Shanghai stock exchange was down 0.1 percent. The index of major companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen lost 0.2 percent.
Google parent Alphabet is laying off hundreds of employees from its global recruiting team. Google said the measure was not part of a large-scale wave of layoffs. A large majority of the team should be retained to fill important positions. Alphabet cut around 12,000 jobs in January, reducing its workforce by six percent. Alphabet is the first “Big Tech” company to lay off employees this quarter, following aggressive job cuts by rivals including Meta, Microsoft and Amazon in early 2023.
According to insiders, the cosmetics group Douglas is pushing ahead with preparations for its IPO. The consortium of banks preparing to jump onto the trading floor has been selected, a person familiar with the process told Reuters. The banks included Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Unicredit, Deutsche Bank and UBS, it said. Douglas declined to comment. According to insiders, Douglas is aiming for an IPO next year.
A two-week general strike begins today at two large LNG projects owned by the US energy company Chevron in Australia. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. The collective bargaining concerns wages and working conditions at Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone plants, which account for more than five percent of global LNG production.
The main buyers of Australian liquid gas are in Asia. But traders say a supply disruption would increase competition as Asian customers would compete with Europe for cargo, leading to price fluctuations in the European gas market.