A surprisingly strong US labor market report increased the pressure on the German stock market only briefly on Friday. After rising the previous day to its highest level in almost a year, the Dax temporarily lost a good one percent, but ultimately the leading index closed only 0.21 percent lower at 15,476.43 points. Despite budding interest rate concerns, he saved a weekly increase of more than two percent to the finish line. The MDax of medium-sized companies fell by 0.10 percent to 29,778.59 points on the last trading day of the week.
After the recent interest rate decisions by the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB), investors initially had more hope that the interest rate spiral could soon end. However, these hopes are now being dampened again by strong job data from the USA. Employment grew much faster than expected in January, with unemployment falling to its lowest level in more than half a century.
As a result, real estate company shares, which had risen sharply the day before, went down again. The interest-sensitive European real estate sector, the weakest in the Stoxx 600 overview, lost 2.3 percent. In the Dax, Vonovia fell by 2.8 percent, and in the MDax Aroundtown, LEG and TAG Immobilien came under even more pressure.
The shares of the tech companies were weighed down by the growing fear of interest rates, in addition to the disappointing quarterly figures from the US heavyweights Apple, Amazon and Alphabet. The tech sector is initially struggling with the next step up. However, chip company Infineon continued its good run and jumped 1.6 percent into the Dax top group.
The preference shares of the consumer goods manufacturer Henkel were also among the winners in the leading index with a plus of almost one percent. Traders pointed to surprisingly good quarterly figures and an increased profit outlook from US competitor Clorox as support.
The shop pharmacy was in turn burdened by news from a competitor: the Swiss online pharmacy Zur Rose is selling its Swiss business to Migros and is thus focusing on the German market. According to a retailer, the shop Apotheke is threatened by increased competition in Germany, which has caused the papers of the medicine shipper to drop by more than four percent at times. Ultimately, however, they closed the SDax small-cap index only 0.6 percent lower.
Outside of the major stock market indices, Leoni fell by 43.8 percent to EUR 3.39, at times marking a record low of EUR 3.15. The automotive supplier, which is in financial difficulties, is considering a capital cut for restructuring. For Leoni, a partial sale that was already believed to be certain had failed, which should flush 400 million euros into the coffers. At the beginning of the week, CEO Aldo Kamper announced his departure in a few weeks. A capital cut is usually made when losses are high. The shareholders are now threatened with a high dilution of profits.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial was slightly up at the close of European trading. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, on the other hand, fell about 0.4 percent. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx closed 0.40 percent higher at 4257.98 points. In Paris, the Cac 40 was up nearly 1 percent, while the FTSE 100 in London was up by a similar margin.
The euro came under pressure after US jobs data and was last seen at $1.0825. The European Central Bank set the reference rate at 1.0937 (Thursday: 1.0988) dollars. The dollar thus cost 0.9143 (0.9100) euros. On the bond market, the current yield fell from 2.25 percent on the previous day to 2.15 percent. The Rex pension index rose by 0.42 percent to 126.49 points. The Bund future recently fell by 0.91 percent to 138.13 points.
