The DAX opened lower on Thursday morning. Around 9:30 AM, the leading index was calculated at approximately 25,368 points, marking a 0.4% decrease from the previous day’s closing level. The top performers during the session included Symrise, Brenntag, and Infineon, while Heidelberg Materials, Airbus, and Adidas finished at the bottom of the list.
Andreas Lipkow, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets, commented on the financial climate, noting that while the US Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged yesterday, it warned that it would continue to monitor price developments critically and saw inflationary risks due to rising energy prices. He also pointed out that the nine-to-three voting ratio against a rate hike is noteworthy, suggesting that the possibility of the Fed adopting a more restrictive monetary policy in the coming months cannot be ruled out.
The analyst also discussed the quarterly earnings reports from Meta and Microsoft. He stated that the results were unsurprising. At Facebook’s parent company, high costs and operational expenses were reportedly weighing down the overall profit. Lipkow observed that the corporation is aggressively entering the AI space without significantly curbing costs, which is reportedly frustrating investors. Conversely, Microsoft’s cloud activities were seen as a major positive, offering relief to cautious investors. He added that, much like SAP, investors had been overly pessimistic about the software conglomerate in recent weeks.
Regarding global market trends, Lipkow explained that stock markets showed early signs of stabilization during Asian trading. He noted that Samsung Electronics’ strong quarterly results were supporting the markets in South Korea and Japan. In Germany, Airbus’s figures generated interest, accompanied by some profit-taking in the stock. While the earnings were good, the analyst suggested they “could not be sustainably convincing,” though he added that the aircraft manufacturer’s shares had already benefited from considerable high expectations in advance.
Beyond the Bank of England’s rate decision, numerous macroeconomic data points are scheduled for Thursday. The analyst pointed out that investors are awaiting reports on Eurozone economic growth, German consumer prices, and US labor market data. The release of the US PCE core deflator and GDP is also planned. The financial day will conclude with the quarterly reports from Apple and Amazon after the New York market closes.
The European community currency was weaker on Thursday morning, with one Euro purchasing $1.1438, and the Dollar trading at 0.8743 Euros. Meanwhile, the oil price climbed significantly; a barrel of Brent crude from the North Sea cost $92.38 around 9 AM German time, representing an increase of 1.8% from the previous close.
