Investors react to the monetary policy decisions of the European Central Bank (ECB) with relief. Of the Dax limited his losses on Thursday afternoon and was slightly up at 15,631 points. The leading index had previously fallen by one percent. The ECB is leaving the key interest rate at zero percent and is reducing the pace of its security purchases as part of the PEPP pandemic emergency program. At first it was unclear how strong the throttling would be. A continuation of the previous policy would have damaged the reputation of the Governing Council, it said.
In the individual stocks, a number of stocks went downhill on Thursday. Bayer, Henkel, HeidelbergCement and Deutsche Bank lost between two and 1.2 percent. A downgrade of Goldman Sachs weighed on Henkel. The analysts had downgraded the stocks to “neutral” from “buy”. The pharmaceutical and life science group Merck, on the other hand, scored points with its long-term sales forecast. The company aims to generate revenues of around 25 billion euros by 2025. In 2020, Merck had sales of a good 17.5 billion euros. The shares were at the top of the Dax with a plus of 2.3 percent.
At RWE, the entry of the investor Enkraft Capital led to acquisitions. The titles gained 1.4 percent in value. Enkraft Capital demands a separation of the controversial business around the lignite. If the supplier were to focus on renewable energies, which have been massively expanded in recent years, RWE would have enormous potential for appreciation, according to a letter from the investor to RWE boss Markus Krebber.
Easyjet papers in London, on the other hand, were down by up to 14 percent before the biggest daily loss since the stock market crash in March 2020. The British low-cost airline wants to raise the equivalent of 1.4 billion euros in additional capital and, according to its own information, does not have a takeover offer for one mentioned interested parties knocked out.
After the downward slide of the past few days, investors feel their way back to Wall Street. The leading index Dow Jones rose by about 0.2 percent when it opened. The market is having a hard time breaking the recent loss streak, it said. The latest labor market figures provided some support.