DOW JONES–The European stock markets started trading on Monday with slight losses. As was already observed on Wall Street on Friday, smaller profit-taking weighs on extremely illiquid trading between the years. The DAX lost 0.4 percent to 19,905 points. Like every year, there will only be shortened trading until 2 p.m. on the last trading day of the year. Looking at developments, 2024 was a good year for DAX investors, with the performance index up 19 percent. On the other hand, things went less well for small and mid-caps; the SDAX lost 3 percent and the MDAX even lost 5 percent. The misery continued in the second row on the German stock market. The bonds are expected to be little changed at the opening.
The Euro-Stoxx-50 lost 0.5 percent to 4,876 points. In Europe, trading takes place as usual until the evening. Liquidity is extremely thin between years, which can lead to larger price swings like those on Wall Street on Friday, where the S&P 500 index lost 1.1 percent. Some investors could still make the final reallocations; for smaller stocks, so-called window dressing may occur. The point here is that investors prefer a slightly higher or lower share price at the end of the year.
The euro shows little change, trading at $1.0421. Participants here also point to the very low sales before the turn of the year. After the more significant losses in the second half of the year, the euro is now trading near a two-year low against the greenback at the end of 2024. The US currency has recently risen significantly due to the strong US economy and the expectation that further interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve will be limited.
Baywa shares are rising with a long-term restructuring concept
The news situation from the company side is thin. Baywa shares rose by 19.6 percent after the agricultural trading group agreed on a long-term restructuring concept with banks and investors. A corresponding agreement was concluded with financing partners and the major shareholders Bayerische Raiffeisen-Beteiligungs-AG and Raiffeisen Agrar Invest AG until 2027. The two major shareholders are participating in a capital increase worth 150 million euros. In order to reduce its debt burden, Baywa also announced that it would sell a 47.5 percent stake in the Austrian RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria AG for 176 million euros.
Siemens (-0.3%) is thinking about reducing its majority stake in the medical technology subsidiary Siemens Healthineers (-0.5%). “We are assessing the economic opportunities for Siemens AG in the healthcare sector,” said CFO Ralf Thomas in an interview with Handelsblatt. From this we will “then deduce how instrumental Healthineers is as a participation for this”. The considerations should be completed by a planned capital market day at the end of 2025. Thomas rejected a separation from the Mobility rail division, which investors had also called for.
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Stock index last +/-% absolute +/-% YTD
Euro Stoxx 50 4,876.29 -0.5% -22.59 +7.9%
Stoxx-50 4,285.03 -0.5% -20.56 +4.7%
DAX 19,904.51 -0.4% -79.81 +18.8%
MDAX 25,548.45 -0.6% -156.68 -5.9%
TecDAX 3,435.81 -0.5% -16.46 +3.0%
SDAX 13,661.98 -0.4% -60.08 -2.1%
FTSE 8,123.97 -0.3% -25.81 +5.4%
CAC 7,327.90 -0.4% -27.47 -2.9%
Bond market last absolute +/- YTD
German ten-year return 2.39 0 -0.18
US ten-year yield 4.60 -0.03 +0.72
FOREX last +/- % Mon, 8:42 Fri, 17:01 % YTD
EUR/USD 1.0421 -0.1% 1.0425 1.0424 -5.6%
EUR/JPY 164.56 +0.0% 164.55 164.25 +5.8%
EUR/CHF 0.9403 +0.0% 0.9405 0.9395 +1.3%
EUR/GBP 0.8293 -0.0% 0.8291 0.8287 -4.4%
USD/JPY 157.89 +0.1% 157.84 157.61 +12.1%
GBP/USD 1.2566 -0.1% 1.2574 1.2580 -1.2%
USD/CNH (Offshore) 7.3091 +0.1% 7.3083 7.2955 +2.6%
Bitcoin
BTC/USD 93,686.50 +0.8% 93,432.35 94,517.55 +115.2%
CRUDE OIL most recently VT-Settlem. +/-% +/- USD% YTD
WTI/Nymex 70.44 70.60 -0.2% -0.16 +1.2%
Brent/ICE 74.15 74.17 -0.0% -0.02 +0.3%
GAS VT Settlem. +/- EUR
Dutch TTF 47.46 47.77 -0.6% -0.31 +24.4%
METALS last day previous +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold (spot) 2,614.86 2,621.50 -0.3% -6.64 +26.8%
Silver (spot) 29.40 29.39 +0.0% +0.01 +23.7%
Platinum (spot) 931.35 916.03 +1.7% +15.33 -6.1%
Copper future 4.12 4.10 +0.4% +0.02 +3.9%
YTD based on the previous day’s closing level
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DJG/thl/ros
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 30, 2024 03:25 ET (08:25 GMT)