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Stock exchange in Frankfurt:
The Dax is
trading
weaker on Friday
Photo: KAREN BLEIER / AFP
At the end of a week of stagnation, investors opt to take profit on Friday.
Even a trillion dollar aid package in the US no longer encourages investors to buy shares.
The German leading index Dax recently fell by almost 2 percent and threatened to fall below the 13,700 point mark.
The recently reached record high of 14,131 points has moved further away.
The still high number of corona infections and deaths also ensure reluctance on the stock exchanges.
The political discussion in Germany about a timely tightening of restrictions is picking up speed, including the demand for a complete lockdown.
In the fight against the corona pandemic and the economic crisis in the USA, the future President
Joe Biden
(78)
wants,
as expected, to implement a new trillion-dollar economic stimulus package.
On Thursday evening (local time) Biden presented the plans for the aid amounting to 1.9 trillion dollars.
Investors had recently expected a sum of this magnitude.
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Bitcoin is coming under pressure again
The cryptocurrency Bitcoin fell again by more than 10 percent on Friday and temporarily fell to $ 34,000.
Bitcoin lost more than 4,000 U-dollars in value within a few hours.
Nevertheless, the demand among speculative-oriented investors remains high: Since only a few investors trade Bitcoin directly via trading platforms such as Bison, the demand for certificates that reflect the price development of Bitcoin has skyrocketed in recent months.
The Bitcoin certificate from the Swiss bank Vontobel (DE000VL3TBC7), which tracks the price development of Bitcoin and is traded at a tenth of the price, was the most popular product on the Frankfurt Certificate Exchange in 2020 with a turnover of 199 million euros.
At the moment it is even sold out at the issuer and can therefore only be traded on the stock exchange, says Markus Königer from ICF Bank.
Due to the limited availability, the spread, i.e. the difference between the purchase price and the sales price, is currently 2 percent, significantly higher than usual.
"The demand is still high," said Königer.
Investors who want to get involved in the Bitcoin rally via the Vontobel certificate currently have to pay a high premium.
SAP increases, Siemens Energy under pressure after allegations by GE
The
shares of SAP
were among the winners in the Dax with an increase of 0.8 percent.
The preliminary quarterly figures published the evening before were well received by the market, especially the income generated with software licenses.
The accusation of unfair competitive practices by General Electric against Siemens Energy was not well received.
The course of the Siemens participation lost a good five percent.
The Americans accuse the adversary of having landed several gas turbine orders using prohibited methods and thus landed "billions of dollars".
Varta shares under pressure - Samsung plans its own microbatteries
Varta
shares
came under increasing pressure, they plummeted by almost seven percent and were the biggest loser in the MDax.
It was triggered by a report that the tech heavyweights Samsung and LG Electronics want to manufacture their own microbatteries.
In addition, assessments by analysts moved the prices: A sell recommendation by the investment bank Morgan Stanley pushed the shares of the auto supplier Hella 3.4 percent to the end of the MDax.
The private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser made more than 30 percent upside potential for Verbio's papers and advised them to buy.
The course of the biofuel manufacturer then gained 5.4 percent.
Gold price increases slightly
After the
gold price fell
significantly at the beginning of the year due to the rising dollar, a recovery in gold began in the past few days.
One troy ounce of the precious metal currently costs around US $ 1,839.
Wall Street starts with losses
At the start of the US corporate reporting season with the numbers of some major banks, Wall Street started trading with losses.
The news that the future US President Joe Biden wants to launch a new stimulus package worth $ 1.9 trillion was already expected.
Shortly after the start of trading, the leading US index, the Dow Jones, was 0.9 percent lower at 30,635 points, after climbing a record high of 31,223 points the day before.
This indicates a weekly loss of around 0.8 percent for the US benchmark index.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 lost 1.3 percent.
The number of initial jobless claims in the US has skyrocketed recently.
A total of 965,000 Americans applied for government support last week.
In the seven days before, it had only been 784,000.
In addition, producer prices rose as expected in December.
By contrast, retail sales excluding cars fell much more sharply than feared in December.
The mood in New York industrial companies in January - as measured by the Empire State Index - increased less strongly than forecast.
In addition, industrial production and capacity utilization, inventory levels and consumer confidence at the University of Michigan are on the agenda this Friday.
JP Morgan and Wells Fargo increase profits
The booming securities trading on the financial markets and lower credit risks in the Corona crisis brought the largest US bank JPMorgan Chase a surprising profit jump in the fourth quarter.
In early US trading, JPMorgan shares fell around 2.3 percent.
Despite persistently high burdens from low interest rates and the Corona crisis, the major US bank Wells Fargo earned a little more in the fourth quarter.
Even if the financial situation has improved, the results continued to suffer from the consequences of the pandemic and legal problems, said CEO Charlie Scharf.
To make matters worse, lower income due to lower interest rates.
The share reacted with a price loss of 3.5 percent.
The major US bank Citigroup is still struggling in the Corona crisis and had to make significant cuts in the fourth quarter.
Bank chief Michael Corbat referred to "massive economic consequences from Covid-19".
The weaker numbers are also due to higher costs and taxes.
In the entire past fiscal year, the profit collapsed by 41 percent.
The Citigroup papers lost around 1.5 percent
Stock exchanges in Asia weaker
After the recent rally, some Asian investors are playing it safe and cashing in.
Japan's Nikkei index fell 0.6 percent to 28,519 points on Friday after hitting a 30-year high of 24,389 points on Thursday.
Its South Korean counterpart even lost two percent.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange, on the other hand, was just up at 3577 positions.
The market was a bit overheated, said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley investment bank.
However, the strong demand for chip values is slowing down the decline.
Euro a little weaker
The euro fell slightly on Friday.
In the morning, the common currency was traded at 1.2137 US dollars, a little lower than the previous evening.
The European Central Bank (ECB) last set the reference rate on Thursday afternoon at $ 1.2124.
Towards the evening the common currency had recovered a little, but then came under pressure.
Market observers pointed to a broad dollar strength, connected with the plans of the future US President Biden for his stimulus package.
For a few days now, the dollar has been driven by the prospect of a new stimulus package in the US.
The hopes for growth this sparked have recently driven yields on US government bonds and thus strengthened the dollar.
Oil prices with a slight decline
Oil prices also fell on Friday.
Market watchers spoke of a countermovement after prices rose sharply over the week.
A barrel (159 liters) of North Sea oil cost 55.85 US dollars that morning.
That was 57 cents less than on Thursday.
The price of a barrel of the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 38 cents to $ 53.19.
The price decline on the oil market started on Friday night.
By Thursday evening, prices had risen significantly.
Oil prices are still at a high level.
In the course of the week, the prices for crude oil from the USA and from the North Sea each reached highs of several months.
One of the price drivers was the prospect of a new stimulus package in the USA.
The hopes for growth that this sparked fueled hopes of stronger demand in the world's largest economy.
with agencies
