FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – In the middle of the week, investors on the German stock market were only hesitant to access important US economic data. In the first few minutes of trading, the Dax (DAX 40) rose by 0.15 percent to 15,403.74 points. The leading German index is thus stuck in the consolidation range of the past two weeks, from which it dared an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to break out on Thursday, but it also remains within sight of its highest level for over a year.
The MDAX for medium-sized companies rose by 0.24 percent to 28,399.27 points on Wednesday morning.
The surprisingly high US inflation rate published on Tuesday remains a burden for the stock markets, wrote Thomas Altmann from asset manager QC Partners. It is now clear “that inflation may have been prematurely declared defeated and that the interest rate issue could continue to accompany us in an unpleasant way throughout the year”.
However, inflation and interest rates are “surprisingly cold at the moment,” added Altmann. With the US retail sales, the next important economic data would be due in the afternoon. A sharp rebound in January would be another indication of the current strength of the world’s largest economy. “The (US Federal Reserve) Fed could, however, see a recovery in retail as a further call to cool down the economy in the form of higher interest rates,” the expert brought up the dilemma of economic development and monetary policy to the point./gl/mis