The DAX started the trading day 1.71 percent lower at 12,827.58 points. In the further course it goes deeper into the loss zone: The leading German index is currently 2.68 percent to 12,701.00 points.
The fear of a recession in Europe due to a lack of Russian gas supplies triggers hectic selling on the domestic stock markets.
Missing gas supplies: Energy sector facing “Lehman-like crisis”?
“The fear of a Lehman-like crisis in the European energy sector is growing,” said analyst Jochen Stanzl from the online broker CMC Markets.
GAZPROM announced at the beginning of the month that it would not supply gas to Germany and other European countries via the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline until further notice. The reason given by the Russian state energy giant was that an oil leak had been discovered during maintenance work. The Federal Network Agency as the regulatory authority and Siemens Energy as the supplier of pipeline technology contradicted this representation. A quick solution to the energy crisis is not in sight, warned Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at brokerage firm AvaTrade. Therefore, Europe is threatened with an economic disaster.
Nord Stream 1 stop affecting ECB interest rate decision?
At the same time, stockbrokers were puzzled as to whether and how the current situation would affect the interest rate decision by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday. ING Bank investment strategist Antoine Bouvet said that the ECB is now focusing more on actual inflation than on expectations. At the same time, investors viewed the planned relief packages from the federal government and other European countries for energy consumers as an opportunity for the ECB to raise interest rates further. Most of them are currently anticipating an interest rate hike of 0.75 percentage points.
Turbulence on the futures market feared: risk of uncontrolled price increases
CMC expert Stanzl also pointed out the risk of further turbulence in natural gas prices. Because of the discussion about the energy price cap, the number of open contracts – an indicator of the trading volume on derivatives markets – has fallen in the past few days. “This may have reduced the ability of energy traders and generators to hedge against renewed price increases or to exit existing positions.” If investors are unable to provide the subsequent security deposits due to the stock exchange due to the current increase, there is a risk that transactions will be forced to be closed. “This could lead to uncontrolled price increases that are detached from the actual relationships between gas supply and demand.”
Editorial office finanzen.net / Reuters
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