FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – A record high inflation in the euro zone did not exactly calm the scratched nerves of many investors on Wednesday. The Dax, which got off to a good start, slipped more than one percent into the red at times after inflation in the euro zone had been estimated at 9.1 percent in August. By the afternoon, however, the index had made up for lost ground, and most recently it was slightly up at 12,965.53 points. For August, however, there is still a discount of almost four percent.
The 13,000 point mark was initially too high a hurdle for the Dax. After a setback of around 1000 points within a few days, investors are also wondering to what extent monetary tightening to combat inflation has already been priced in.
The MDAX also managed to catch up on its temporary losses on Wednesday. It recently rose by 0.09 percent to 25,416.08 points. However, the leading eurozone index, the EuroStoxx 50 (EURO STOXX 50), fell slightly by 0.1 percent. A robust start is expected on the US stock exchanges – after the monthly low of the Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) reached the previous day.
Rising interest rates coupled with economic worries have recently not been a good cocktail for the stock market. As far as consumer prices in the euro zone are concerned, the experts at ING were concerned about a surprisingly high increase in core inflation, i.e. the price increase excluding the particularly volatile energy, food and beverages prices. This fueled concerns that second-round effects would result in a prolonged increase in costs.
“While the economy is rapidly slowing or perhaps even shrinking, the question now is how hard the ECB is to apply the brakes,” said ING economist Bert Colijn. A significant rate hike is expected from the European Central Bank in the coming week. Even a particularly strong step of 0.75 percentage points is considered possible according to statements by senior central bankers.
On the corporate side, car manufacturers were in focus. In the case of shares in VW (Volkswagen (VW) vz) and the group holding company Porsche SE (Porsche SE Vz), investors hit the brakes with discounts of 0.9 and 1.7 percent, respectively, after the shares were recently both sold by the imagination for one IPO of the sports car manufacturer Porsche AG.
Mercedes-Benz (Mercedes-Benz Group (ex-Daimler)) and BMW settled after their fluctuations, each with a plus of 0.3 percent. In comparison, there was a better mood in the industry due to speculation that Renault was talking to interested parties about participating in the combustion engine business. The Renault titles were therefore increased in Paris by 2.4 percent.
Airbus (Airbus SE (ex EADS)) was more affected by the news with a discount of 1.6 percent, while SAP (SAP SE) on the other hand rose by almost one percent. A high-ranking change of manager caused a sensation among the two Dax heavyweights: CFO Dominik Asam will leave the aircraft manufacturer at the beginning of March next year and switch to the software group in the same role.
In contrast, the shares of the copper group Aurubis came under significant pressure of 2.8 percent in a generally weak sector environment. However, the decline was topped by metal recycler Befesa, whose shares slipped 6.4 percent to their lowest level since November 2020. Prices have been reflecting the end of the commodity price boom for some time. This was underpinned on Wednesday by Citigroup analyst Paul Bradley, who therefore significantly reduced his profit estimates for Befesa due to ongoing cost pressure.
1.0002 US dollars was last paid for the euro, so the common currency remained just above parity. The European Central Bank had set the reference rate at $1.0034 the day before.
On the bond market, the current yield rose from 1.36 percent on the previous day to 1.43 percent. The Rex bond index (REX overall price index) fell by 0.41 percent to 131.87 points. The Bund future fell by 0.29 percent to 148.04 points./tih/mis