Good morning, dear readers,
Despite the war and crises, the German Dax companies made record profits last year. At 120 billion euros, the added surpluses were only slightly below the best value of around 129 billion in the 2021 financial year, according to an evaluation of balance sheets and analyst estimates.
According to Deutsche Bank’s chief investment strategist, Ulrich Stephan, the prospects for the current financial year have also improved significantly: “The lower prices for energy commodities and the lifting of the pandemic measures in China are likely to have been the main reasons for the brightening of the mood.”
It is likely that 24 of the 40 DAX companies today have increased their profits compared to 2021. Only a few companies are on the negative list, such as the chemical company BASF, which posted a net loss of 1.4 billion euros due to the billions in write-offs on its Russian business.
It is also interesting to take a look at today’s top earners in the Dax compared to 2003: The leader at the time, Eon, would not even make it into the top 5 today with the profit he made back then. And the dominance of the three German car manufacturers is greater than ever.
Shareholders and employees can be happy about the good business of their groups. Regulatory politicians, on the other hand, are allowed to bite the edge of the table in frustration and ask themselves: why did the two social crisis years 2021 (Corona) and 2022 (Ukraine war, energy crisis), in which the state distributed many billions of taxpayer money as aid to companies, end with record profits for the stock exchange groups?
The good numbers are already priced into the share prices: Since the end of September, the 40 Dax companies have gained almost a third in stock market value. So is it too late to board? In his editorial, Handelsblatt stock market expert Ulf Sommer answers the question as diplomatically as if he were a Venetian investment advisor at the court of Kublai Khan: “Anyone who hopes for a time without risks to get on board will have to wait a long time, probably even forever.”
Our head of politics, Thomas Sigmund, on the other hand, is not so into diplomacy today. After the elections in Berlin, he sees a “coalition of losers” emerging that could soon rule the city.
In fact, you have to search a long time to find a state election that produced as many losers as this repeat election in Berlin – which at least went smoothly this time:
- The CDU has increased by around ten percentage points compared to the 2021 election and comes to 28.2 percent. But their top candidate, Kai Wegner, doesn’t have a good chance of becoming governing mayor. Absolute majorities would be possible with both the SPD and the Greens. However, both parties let it be known that they would rather continue their previous alliance with the left. It is now up to Wegner, the SPD or the Greens to teach them otherwise.
- The previous Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey scored for the Berliners SPD a record bad result. The Social Democrats only get 18.4 percent.
- The greens are 105 votes behind the SPD by a hair’s breadth. They are thus missing their goal of overtaking the SPD and claiming the office of governing mayor for the Greens’ top candidate Bettina Jarasch.
- Given the chaos in their party, the left glad they got away with a slight loss of votes and ended up with 12.2 percent.
- The AfD increases slightly to 9.1 percent, but misses its election target of going into double digits.
- The FDP continues its series of defeats in state elections and is knocked out of the House of Representatives with 4.6 percent. The Berlin Liberals must now ask themselves why, unlike the CDU, they were unable to benefit from the dissatisfaction with the red-red-green Senate.
In the end, Giffey might actually manage to continue governing with her coalition of losers. That would be a bit like giving the gold medal to the lone survivor in Monty Python’s “200-meter freestyle swim for non-swimmers.”
The runoff election for the presidency in Cyprus resulted in a comparatively clear winner: the conservative Nikos Christodoulides won the election after counting all the votes with 51.9 percent. The left opponent Andreas Mavrogiannis reached 48.1 percent.
For weeks the White House has been working on the sign of determination, that US President Joe Biden wants to mark the anniversary of the Ukraine war on February 24. Biden, the White House has now declared, will fly to Poland immediately before the anniversary. From February 20 to 22, according to the plan, Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda and the heads of state and government of the “Bucharest Nine”, NATO allies in Eastern Europe.
Exciting question: Will Biden also visit Ukraine on this occasion for the first time since the beginning of the war? If at all, such a visit would only be possible with short notice for security reasons.
Biden shot down another unidentified flying object on Sunday. Mysterious flying objects over North America have been puzzling the United States and the world for days. US fighter jets shot down two more on Friday and Saturday. A week earlier, the US Air Force had taken down a Chinese balloon suspected of being used for espionage purposes. However, it is unclear whether there is a connection between the incidents.
The good old theater scandal isn’t what it used to be either. That’s why this message makes us sit up and take notice: At the premiere of the ballet “Faith – Love – Hope” at the Hanover State Opera there was a scandal on Saturday. Ballet boss Marco Goecke smeared the critic of the FAZ, Wiebke Hüster, with dog excrement.
According to the German Press Agency, Goecke, who had his dog with him during the ballet premiere break, confronted Hüster and accused her of “always writing such personal reviews”. After that, the choreographer pulled a bag of dog feces out of his pocket and rubbed it in her face with the open side, according to Hüster.
We can be glad that Goecke was not inspired by one or the other Shakespearean drama. In his work, even more unsavory methods of retribution can be found.
I wish you a day when you are not so quick to take criticism personally.
Best regards
Your Christian Rickens
Editor-in-Chief Handelsblatt
