Concerns about a tightening of monetary policy by the US Federal Reserve this year weighed on the German stock market on Thursday. In addition, uncertainty is growing in view of the spread of the delta variant of the corona virus. Of the Dax lost 1.5 percent to 15,728 points by the afternoon. According to the minutes of the latest Fed meeting published on Wednesday evening, the members of the central bank were divided over when the bond purchases to support the economy should be reduced. The majority, however, was of the opinion that it should start this year.
European auto values came under pressure after a report of drastic production cuts by the world’s largest manufacturer Toyota. The reasons for the cuts are the global chip shortage and the corona crisis. A dealer said that the material supply bottlenecks in the automotive industry have been known for a long time. “But nobody had any plans to cut production by 40 percent.” The investors therefore pulled the ripcord: In Japan, Toyota stocks fell 4.4 percent. In the Dax, the stocks of BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen as well as the supplier Continental fell between 2.2 and 3.2 percent. A VW spokesman also said the shortage of semiconductors would slow down car production in Wolfsburg after the summer break. VW is assuming that the supply of chips will remain tense in the third quarter. Therefore, further production adjustments cannot be ruled out.
Infineon papers slipped by 3.3 percent and suffered like other chip manufacturers in Asia from statements about delivery bottlenecks. On the evening before, Cisco highlighted delivery bottlenecks for the presentation of its quarterly figures with a view to the rest of the year. However, the business figures of the US network specialist were well received. Cisco benefited from the home office trend and the high demand for cybersecurity and teleconferencing products. That lifted Wall Street stocks by just under one percent. Overall, however, the mood on the US stock exchanges was rather depressed. Of the Dow Jones was quoted 0.4 percent lower shortly after the start of trading. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.6 percent.