The ongoing energy crisis and fears of the collapse of the Chinese real estate company Evergrande have put European investors on the back burner. Mixed, unusual company balance sheets hardly offered any positive impulses on Thursday. Of the Dax went 0.3 percent lower at 15,473 points. “Investors worry that the most recent price increases on the energy market will not pass without losses in corporate profits and thus also in economic growth,” said analyst Jochen Stanzl from online broker CMC Markets. Meanwhile, the highly indebted group China Evergrande said that the billion dollar sale of its service division Evergrande Property Services to competitor Hopson had failed and caused unrest among investors again. Evergrande and Evergrande Property shares plunged 12.5 and 8 percent, respectively, in Hong Kong.
The stock of SAP turned significantly into the red after the German software company withdrew its license forecast for the fourth quarter in an analyst conference. With a discount of a good three percent, SAP was the weakest value in the Dax. Despite the strong market environment, the software company does not seem to be able to improve its sales and profit situation faster, complained one dealer. Meanwhile, Sartorius stocks at the top of the Dax continued to recover from their latest setback with a plus of 4.3 percent. After the quarterly figures presented the day before by the laboratory service provider and pharmaceutical supplier, further positive analyst assessments have now followed. Recruitment agencies were among the favorites in the European stock markets. Amadeus Fire titles rose in price by 4.6 percent to a record high thanks to increased business forecasts. In Amsterdam, Randstad’s stocks gained 5.6 percent after the company announced a surprisingly high jump in profits.
On Wall Street he gave Dow Jones by 0.4 percent to 35,465 points by mid-trading. A quarterly result above market expectations gave American Airlines a boost. The airline’s shares rose 1.2 percent.