Even on the second trading day of the shortened trading week, the DAX did not see any big jumps. However, sentiment in the stock market remains upbeat and hopes for interest rates persist.
The DAX started the last full trading day of the year with modest price gains. It rose 0.2 percent to 16,773 points in the first minutes of trading. The positive mood on the German stock market continues. The leading German index fell by one yesterday Plus 0.2 percent to 16,742 points reports from Christmas break. Tomorrow will end the year with a shortened trading session.
Hopes of an early cut in interest rates amid a lack of stimulus between Christmas and the New Year continue to fuel cautious optimism in equity markets. Market watchers are again expecting quiet trading in the DAX with relatively low turnover as most major investors have already closed their books as the year-end approaches.
With traditionally low year-to-year turnover, it doesn’t take much to make big moves in the DAX. So the stock market barometer could come a little closer to what has been achieved recently A record high of 17,003 points approach. However, there is an important resistance at 16,800 points that needs to be overcome first.
No important economic data is available today. In the afternoon, investors will only look at data from the US real estate market and weekly initial US jobless claims. Experts polled by Reuters expected a slight increase to 210,000 from 205,000 previously.
Buoyed by hopes of interest rate cuts and a “soft landing” of the economy in the new year, the Dow Jones Industrial and Nasdaq 100 in the US hit new record highs yesterday. In late trading, the Dow was up 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq 100 was up 0.2 percent.
Chinese stocks on the rise, Nikkei profit-taking
Asian stock markets failed to find a common direction this morning. While profit-taking pushed Japanese indexes lower, bargain hunters bought Chinese stocks. In Tokyo, the leading Nikkei index fell 0.4 percent to 33,539 points. In contrast, the Shanghai Stock Exchange rose by 1.4 percent. The index of large companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen gained 2.3 percent.
In the mineral markets, the price of gold continues its upward trend, undeterred. In the morning, a troy ounce of gold is trading just below $2,086. The precious metal is heading back to its all-time high. In early December, gold briefly rose to $2,135.
The reason for the increase is that investors expect interest rates to fall in the US. Gold becomes more attractive to investors when key interest rates fall. Unlike fixed interest securities, the precious metal does not generate any ongoing income. As interest rates fall, this disadvantage diminishes – and gold becomes more attractive to investors. The precious metal also benefits from a falling dollar, as it makes gold cheaper in non-dollar countries and thus boosts demand.
Meanwhile, the euro may defend its recent gains against the dollar in early forex trading and even extend them somewhat. The common European currency gained 0.1 percent to $1.1118. Hopes of a US interest rate cut weighed heavily on the dollar yesterday as the dollar index fell to a five-month low.
Oil prices are moving sideways this morning after yesterday’s price drop, with North Sea Brent at $79.52 a barrel. The day before, oil prices fell significantly by around two percent. The background was the considerations of important shipping companies on the resumption of transit through the Red Sea.
In the DAX, Bayer shares can extend their strong gains from the previous day. Traders referred to a generally positive report in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” about the Leverkusen-based company’s market position in eye diseases. The share price was supported yesterday by the positive outcome of the glyphosate lawsuit in the US. Since the beginning of the year, Bayer is one of the weakest DAX stocks, with a loss of more than 30 percent.
Apple stock could also be worth watching today. The technology group is resuming sales of its computer watch in the US after an appeals court temporarily suspended an import ban imposed in a patent dispute. Starting today (21:00 CET), it will be possible to order the current Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 online again.
Toyota’s small car division Daihatsu wants to take responsibility for the consequences of its indefinite production shutdown. Lower-level suppliers will also be compensated in connection with the production shutdown following the security scandal, Daihatsu announced this morning. Production in Japan will be suspended until at least the end of January while authorities investigate irregularities in safety controls.
The New York Times was the first major US newspaper to sue software companies OpenAI and Microsoft over their artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. The paper accuses the companies of using knowledge from millions of articles to feed ChatGPT, building business at the expense of the New York Times.
The Financial Markets Regulatory Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed a civil penalty of approximately three million dollars on former major Swiss bank Credit Suisse. The troubled bank, which was taken over by rival UBS in March, failed to prevent or detect misconduct by its customer advisers, the authority said.