After a strong start to the year, the Dax weakened somewhat on Thursday. In early trading, the leading index lost 0.35 percent to 14,440.40 points, giving up a small part of its four percent gain over the past three days. Signs of easing inflationary pressure provided momentum at the beginning of the year. The MDax for medium-sized companies rose by 0.09 percent on Thursday morning to 26472.10 points. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 lost 0.49 percent to 3954.55 points.
Portfolio manager Thomas Altmann from QC Partners spoke of a “breather” that was “absolutely normal and healthy for the market” after such a winning streak. Those who missed the positive start to the market, ran after it and had to buy had done so the day before, as can be seen from the stock market turnover. According to market expert Andreas Lipkow, the minutes of the meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which were presented the day before, are still having an effect. There, “express reference was once again made to a long phase of restrictive interest rate and money market policy”. “All the more attention will be directed to the US labor market data,” Lipkow expects.
The US labor market report for December by the private service provider ADP is due in the early afternoon. It is an important indicator for the monthly official employment figures on Friday. The situation on the labor market is an important factor influencing the Fed’s monetary policy, which is likely to raise interest rates further. The speed and extent of the interest rate hikes are currently the decisive factor for what is happening on the stock markets.
Among the individual stocks in the Dax, Deutsche Telekom shares caught the eye and increased by 0.7 percent. The subsidiary T-Mobile US surprisingly increased the number of its contract customers in the fourth quarter.
In the MDax, Lufthansa’s shares gained 0.9 percent and were pulled along by the positive mood in the industry after the low-cost airline Ryanair raised its fiscal year targets. The German airline itself had raised its profit target as early as mid-December due to high demand for flights, and this again and again.
Synlab, on the other hand, fell by 5.9 percent in the SDax, which one dealer called “exaggerated”. The trigger is that the Portuguese antitrust authorities have initiated proceedings against two subsidiaries of the laboratory specialist. There are possible violations of competition law between 2016 and March 2022. However, one trader said: “This is negative for Synlab, but the drop in prices seems exaggerated. The allegations are country-specific and are limited to the activities of the two subsidiaries in this country.”
Analysts’ ratings were also moving. ProSiebenSat.1 was downgraded from “neutral” to “underperform” by Bank of America and the price target was capped from EUR 9.00 to EUR 7.10. The share lost 2.7 percent at the end of the MDax. Südzucker was one of the favorites in the second-line stock index, up 4.0 percent to EUR 17.26. Analyst Alexander Neuberger from Bankhaus Metzler wrote that the prospects on the European sugar market had improved significantly.
