Resurgent fears of inflation due to higher oil prices and weakening US stock markets hit the Dax on Friday. The price increase was triggered by Russia’s announcement that it would cut production of the raw material from March because of the upper price limit decided by the West for Russian crude oil.
“Rising oil prices are fueling inflation concerns,” said analyst Salah Bouhmidi from trading house IG. And with rising inflation, investors ultimately fear that interest rates will continue to rise. This, in turn, tends to weigh on the stock market because it makes other asset classes, such as bonds, more attractive.
The leading German index ended trading down 1.39 percent at 15,307.98 points, ending the volatile week at a discount of a good one percent. The MDax fell by 2.21 percent to 28,394.76 points and Europe’s most important stock exchanges also gave way. The EuroStoxx 50 lost 1.23 percent to 4197.94 points. In Paris and London, the most important indices also closed lower. In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial made a slight gain, but the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indices fell.
In the course of the reporting season, the sporting goods manufacturer Adidas shocked investors with another sales and profit warning. As the weakest Dax value, the shares fell by almost eleven percent and dragged the MDax-listed papers of the competitor Puma with them. These lost 4.6 percent.
The end of Adidas’ partnership with rapper Kanye West (Yeezy brand), who was controversial because of anti-Semitic statements, will also weigh on the group in the new year. Although the board wants to examine how it can use the Yeezy products, it also thinks it is possible to remain seated on the goods. This would reduce sales by around 1.2 billion euros in 2023 and the operating result by half a billion euros.
Deutsche Bank’s shares were hurt by a downgrade from Bank of America. They gave way by 3.1 percent. According to analyst Rohith Chandra-Rajan, Germany’s largest bank is finding it difficult to improve profitability, which is why he prefers other industry stocks.
The “Yellow Share” fell by 1.8 percent. Collective bargaining for around 160,000 Deutsche Post employees has failed. The Verdi union now wants to initiate a ballot on a labor dispute.
A skeptical study by JPMorgan caused Hellofresh to fall by almost 13 percent and thus take last place in the MDax. Analyst Marcus Diebel is concerned about customer development at the meal kit provider: “High migration rates and, at best, stable gross customer growth limit growth.” This makes the business model increasingly vulnerable. The weak economic environment and tight consumer budgets weighed on demand.
The shares of other companies with an Internet-based business model were also under pressure. The papers of the online fashion retailer Zalando, the food delivery service Delivery Hero and the online broker Flatexdegiro were also among the biggest losers on the German stock market.
The euro cost 1.0671 US dollars in the evening. The European Central Bank set the reference rate at 1.0690 (Thursday: 1.0771) dollars. The dollar thus cost 0.9355 (0.9284) euros.
On the bond market, the current yield rose from 2.28 percent on the previous day to 2.34 percent. The Rex pension index fell by 0.20 percent to 125.74 points. The Bund future fell by 0.19 percent to 136.03 points. (dpa)