market report
As of: 01/23/2023 6:26 p.m
At the start of the week, the DAX followed a friendly Wall Street slightly up. Investors position themselves before new company figures, and tech stocks in particular are becoming more interesting.
After a changeable course, the start of the week on the German stock market was successful. The DAX closed at 15,102 points, advancing 0.46 percent. However, the leading German index did not come close to its initial daily high of 15,145 points. In the meantime, the index had even slipped slightly into the red, but always maintained the 15,000 point mark. The daily low was 15,023 points.
However, the DAX can only partially build on its strong winning streak from the beginning of the year. This increases the risk that the correction movement on the German stock market that began last Thursday could soon continue. From a technical perspective, the support zone at 14,800/15,000 points is once again becoming the focus of investors.
New quarterly figures in focus
Things will get exciting this week as investors expect a whole host of new US quarterly reports, including from the highly valued technology sector. “The mood is somewhere between hope and skepticism,” said Jochen Stanzl, market analyst at trading house CMC Markets. Investors are still not sure whether the enthusiasm of US investors after strong Netflix numbers at the end of last week is just another flash in the pan or actually the beginning of a longer-term recovery.
Good quarterly figures from companies such as Microsoft, Tesla and Boeing could be a possible ray of hope in economically tense times in the coming days, added Stanzl.
In the evening, ECB boss Christine Lagarde will speak at Deutsche Börse’s New Year’s reception. Most recently, Lagarde had at the World Economic Forum in Davos further aggressive action by the European Central Bank in the fight against inflation. Although inflation rates in the euro zone have recently been falling, there can be no question of the all-clear. Concerns about interest rates therefore continue to influence the markets.
euros more expensive than it has been since April 2022
The DAX is currently facing headwinds from the foreign exchange market, for which the recent increase in interest rate expectations in the euro area is largely responsible. “The expectation that the ECB will tighten interest rates more than the Fed this year is giving wings to the common currency,” says portfolio manager Thomas Altmann from asset manager QC Partners.
The resurgent euro is a heavy burden, especially for German export stocks, which are heavily weighted in the DAX. The European common currency had recently been able to make up significant ground against the dollar. It rose as high as $1.0919 this morning, its highest level since April 2022. It is currently trading slightly lower at 1.0860. The European Central Bank set the reference rate at 1.0871 (Friday: 1.0826) dollars.
EU consumer sentiment brightens
In view of the fact that prices are no longer rising quite as sharply, consumer sentiment in the euro zone brightened at the beginning of the year. The barometer for the consumer climate rose by 1.1 points to minus 20.9 points in January, according to the European Commission’s survey published today. The economists surveyed had expected a slightly stronger increase to minus 20.0 points.
Despite the recent positive development, the barometer remains well below its long-term average. One reason for the mood that is no longer quite so gloomy is likely to be the slower rise in consumer prices. Goods and services rose by 9.2 percent in December in the monetary union, after 10.1 percent in November. Despite this, inflation – driven by high energy and food prices – is still eating away at the purchasing power of many consumers.
Hope on the Nasdaq
At least since the good Netflix numbers on Friday, there seems to be renewed confidence on the Nasdaq. The technology exchange is expanding its opening profits and is currently gaining a little over two percent. The index of standard values, the Dow Jones index, cannot keep up, but has also improved further with a current increase of 0.9 percent. So far it looks like a friendly start to the week on the world’s leading stock exchange in New York.
Even before the weekend, the technology-heavy Nasdaq selection index in particular had recovered significantly from the previous losses. With a price increase of more than six percent since the beginning of the year, it is clearly ahead of the leading index, which can only show a plus of 0.7 percent.
In the dull stock market year 2022, however, the signs were reversed: while the Dow had held up comparatively well, the Nasdaq 100 had collapsed by around a third. On the economic side, investors expect the index of US leading indicators on Monday after the start of trading.
Salesforce in focus – stock rises
In the case of SAP competitor Salesforce, the alleged participation of the activist investor Paul Singer ensures a strong price increase of 4.6 percent – this means that the shares can look forward to the third day of profits in a row. The news agency wrote that Singer had joined the software specialist, who was under pressure, with several billion US dollars Bloomberg citing an informed person. That too The Wall Street Journal reported about it.
“We look forward to working constructively with Salesforce to realize the value befitting a company of its size,” said Jesse Cohn, managing partner at Elliott. Singer is an investor who likes to invest in companies that are facing important decisions. Salesforce recently announced a large round of layoffs to keep costs down. In addition, Elliott took advantage of the fall in the share price last year.
Oil prices are increasing
Oil prices posted gains at the start of the new week. In the late afternoon, a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent for delivery in March costs around 1.3 percent more than on Friday. Prices for the US light oil grade WTI are up 1.0 percent.
Symrise with Sweden penalty
By far the biggest loser in the DAX was the Symrise share, which lost 5.6 percent. The fragrance and flavor manufacturer had alienated its shareholders with unexpected value adjustments on a stake in Sweden. At the top were Sartorius advantages. Merck stocks also rose, albeit without new news. The paper of the Darmstadt pharmaceutical and laboratory group lagged behind in the recent upswing in the DAX and caught up today.
Post that has been left behind should arrive by Tuesday
After a three-day warning strike, the post office wants to deliver three million letters and one million packages by Tuesday evening at the latest. The union ver.di had struck letter and parcel centers from Thursday to Saturday.
Jutta Dönges becomes CFO at Uniper
The energy company Uniper, which was absorbed by the state during the gas crisis, has found a new chief financial officer. The financial expert Jutta Dönges, who has been on the supervisory board for the federal government since December, will switch to the board of directors and will be responsible for finance there from March 1st.
Steelmakers drive back blast furnaces
The steel industry in Germany, with corporations such as Thyssenkrupp and Salzgitter, reduced its production by 8.4 percent to 36.8 million tons last year. With the exception of the Corona year 2020, this is the lowest annual value since 2009.
Salzgitter AG wants to cut up to 800 jobs by 2033
The steel manufacturer Salzgitter AG wants to cut around 500 to 800 jobs by 2033. In the course of the conversion of production to more climate-friendly processes, fewer employees will be needed in the future, said CEO Gunnar Groebler of the “Braunschweiger Zeitung”.
Secunet with record sales
Titles from Secunet Security Networks are in demand despite the missed earnings target (EBIT) for 2022. In terms of sales, however, the IT security service provider achieved a record value and exceeded the target set by the management. The fourth quarter in particular once again provided tailwind.
Layoffs at Spotify
As the next big company from the tech industry, the music streaming market leader Spotify is planning to layoffs. Around six percent of the employees should go, as founder and boss Daniel Ek announced on Monday. Around 600 jobs are likely to be affected. As of September 30, the Swedish company had a good 9,800 full-time positions.
Microsoft invests in ChatGPT
The US group Microsoft is expanding its cooperation with OpenAI, the developer of the artificial intelligence (AI)-based software ChatGPT. that shared Microsoft boss Satya Nadella on Monday in the Internet service Twitter. Nadella wrote of a long-term “multi-billion dollar investment” to accelerate California startup OpenAI’s commercial breakthrough. The financial service Bloomberg reported, citing an inside source, that it was about $10 billion.
The AI application ChatGPT is a so-called chatbot, i.e. a system for text dialogue. The software was fed with huge amounts of data from the Internet and can always reassemble information. OpenAI boss Sam Altman praised the cooperation with Microsoft, which “shares our values”. Microsoft stock is going up.