At the beginning of Tuesday trading, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange was up 0.72 percent to 15,710.45 points on the DAX table. The leading German index is currently rising by 0.28 percent to 15,641.34 units. The stock market barometer is thus back on course to the high for the year of 15,736.56 points from the beginning of April.
On Thursday, the DAX closed half a percent higher at 15,597.89 points. According to analysts, the hope that the recent weak economic data could prompt the US Federal Reserve to take smaller interest rate hikes outweighed the disappointment over the missed forecasts.
Response to US jobs data
The specifications from Asia and the USA for the European stock exchanges were rather positive. After the long weekend, investors in New York were finally able to react on Monday to the government’s job market report, which was published on Friday. Initially, many investors apparently feared another rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. At the start of trading on Monday, the most important indices were in the red, and interest-sensitive technology stocks in particular came under pressure. In the course of time, however, the fears subsided, and the standard values even ended the day in the green.
Economic data on the agenda
On the economic side, the Sentix economic indicator for Germany rose again in April after falling in the previous month. Accordingly, it increased to minus 6.9 (March: minus 9.6) points. The index of the assessment of the situation climbed to minus 2.3 (minus 7.5) points and the index of economic expectations to minus 11.5 (minus 11.8) points. The assessment of the situation improved for the sixth time in a row. The Sentix economic index for the euro area rose to minus 8.7 (minus 11.1) points, with the situation index rising to minus 4.3 (minus 9.3) points and the expectations index stagnating at minus 13.0 points.
Sentix Managing Director Manfred Hübner explains the increase with the analysts’ relief that the energy never ran out in winter.
In addition, retail sales for the euro zone were scheduled for February. According to Eurostat, they fell by 0.8 percent compared to the previous month. Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a minus of 0.9 percent. However, the provisional increase of 0.3 percent reported for January was revised to 0.8 percent. Retail sales in February were down 3.0 (January: 1.8) percent on the same month last year.
As part of the spring conference of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, the IMF will present new detailed forecasts for the most important countries and regions of the world with its outlook on the global economy.
Editorial office finanzen.net / Reuters / dpa-AFX / Dow Jones Newswires
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