Fears of a recession prompted European investors to withdraw from equities again on Thursday. Of the dax fell below the 13,000 point mark and lost 1.7 percent to 12,784 points by the close of trading. The turnaround in interest rates, the war in Ukraine and fears of inflation and recession are weighing on stock markets worldwide. “The fundamental bottom in the Dax threatens to break away given the fear of a wave of profit warnings,” said Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. Positive economic signals from China did not help. Instead, the worsening gas crisis in Germany is increasingly worrying market participants worldwide. Expert Stephen Innes from SPI Asset Management wrote that it was no longer just a European problem, but that the whole world was being held hostage by the energy situation in Germany.
A price drop of more than 14 percent for Uniper shares also weighed on the mood. The energy supplier withdrew its forecasts after the throttled gas supplies from Russia and is calling for help from the state. According to the federal government, talks about stabilization measures are underway. Uniper, a subsidiary of the Finnish Fortum Group, is the largest foreign customer of the Russian gas giant Gazprom. RWE and Eon stocks lost 5.3 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively. Gazprom shares fell 27 percent to 215 rubles in Moscow after the owners of the Russian gas company rejected the profit distribution for 2021. Originally, shareholders were to receive 52.53 rubles per share. That would have been the highest payout in the company’s history.
The economically sensitive car stocks were among the biggest losers in the Dax. Volkswagen, Porsche SE, Continental and Mercedes Benz recorded discounts of between 5.2 and 3.2 percent. BMW lost 1.4 percent. Real estate values are still in a difficult position in view of rising interest rates. Vonovia shares in the Dax lost 3.9 percent, in the M-Dax Aroundtown and Grand City Properties each fell by more than ten percent. The fear of an economic downturn did not let go of US investors either. The leading indices Dow Jones and the broader S&P 500 were down 0.8% and 1% respectively at mid-market.