Dusseldorf In the last full week of trading this year, investors should continue to deal with the topic of inflation. All major central banks are expected to decide this week how they want to get a grip on the massive rise in inflation. On Friday, the US Department of Labor announced that consumer prices rose 6.8 percent in November compared to the same month last year – the strongest increase in almost 40 years.
Investors should turn their attention to the United States. The Supreme Court is expected to announce whether it will accept Bayer’s complaint in the glyphosate litigation. Should the court accept the complaint, this is likely to have a major impact on the wave of lawsuits that the Dax group has been following since the takeover of the glyphosate manufacturer Monsanto.
The airport operator Fraport is also presenting its traffic figures for November today. The number of passengers had recently risen sharply, and October was the strongest month since the beginning of the corona crisis. Today we can see whether the trend has continued.
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What is important today:
1 – trading in the US
Despite US inflation as high as it has been in nearly 40 years, Wall Street investors did not allow themselves to be discouraged on Friday. The Dow Jones index of defaults went 0.6 percent higher to 35,970 points from trading. The technology-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.7 percent to 15,630 points. The broad S&P 500 gained 1.0 percent to 4712 points, marking a new record high.
With an inflation rate of 6.8 percent in November, the US has overshot the Federal Reserve’s target of 2.0 percent by miles. “The stock markets are rising because the numbers were pretty much in line with expectations and not, as feared, exceeded dramatically,” said Thomas Hayes, executive member of asset manager Great Hill Capital in New York.
2 – trade in Asia
The Asian stock markets will initially gain ground on Monday. Investors are apparently confident that the markets will survive whatever comes this week: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of a “tidal wave” of new infections because of the virus variant Omikron and the US Federal Reserve is expected to do so Week will signal a faster reduction in security purchases and thus an earlier start to interest rate hikes.
The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are also heading towards a normalization of monetary policy. “The prospect of global monetary policy moving at different rates in different countries is a recipe for volatility, and one could argue that the risks surrounding the virus have increased too,” said John Briggs, investment strategist at NatWest Markets.
The Nikkei index, which comprises 225 values, was 0.9 percent higher at 28,697 points. The broader Topix index rose 0.5 percent to hit 1985 points. The Shanghai stock exchange was 0.9 percent up. The index of the most important companies in Shanghai and Shenzen gained 1.2 percent.
3 – Judgment expected in trial against Swiss banking giant UBS
The Paris Court of Appeal has reopened the allegations of tax fraud against the major Swiss bank UBS. As in the first instance, the bank faces a fine in the billions in the appeal process. The public prosecutor’s office accused UBS of having sent employees to France between 2004 and 2012 to attract wealthy customers.
The institute is said to have encouraged her to invest her money in Switzerland past the French tax authorities. Two years ago, the institute was sentenced in the first instance to a record fine of more than 3.7 billion euros. The bank appealed against it and threw back the allegations of criminal misconduct.
4 – Bank of Japan Announces Tankan Quarterly Poll for December
After the severe slump due to the corona pandemic, the sentiment index for the country’s large manufacturing companies determined in the survey by the Bank of Japan surprisingly improved from plus 14 to 18 in September. A positive index means that the optimists in the industry are in the majority.
In the three months to December, however, the 10,000 or so companies surveyed expected the sentiment index to return to plus 14. In the past few months, the automotive industry, which in Japan is the backbone of the world’s third largest economy before Germany, has had to cut production due to a lack of supplier parts and semiconductor bottlenecks.
5 – News in the glyphosate litigation
The US Supreme Court is expected to announce today whether it will accept Bayer’s complaint in the glyphosate litigation. If the court announces a decision, that should mean a clear turnaround in the Monsanto legal burden for Bayer.
In August, the group had filed a motion, according to which the Supreme Court should deal with the judgment of a court of appeal in the so-called Hardeman trial against Monsanto. Even accepting the proceedings would be a positive sign for Bayer, because the Supreme Court does this very rarely and only when it sees a need for correction.
Since the $ 63 billion takeover of the American glyphosate manufacturer Monsanto, Bayer has been rolling over a wave of lawsuits. The share price is badly shaken and the takeover has been giving management and investors no peace since 2018. Should the court accept the case for decision and judge in favor of Bayer, this would have a signal effect. Bayer expects to be able to basically end the disputes.
6 – Fraport presents traffic figures
The airport operator Fraport, which is listed in the MDax, is presenting its traffic figures for November this Monday. October was the strongest month since the beginning of the corona crisis, the reason for this was the recovery in passenger numbers. However, the number was still 47.2 percent lower than before the start of the corona crisis in October 2019.
In 2020, the number of passengers dropped to less than 19 million, after Frankfurt Airport had a record year in 2019 with more than 70 million passengers. According to Fraport boss Stefan Schulte, this level should not be reached again until 2025 at the earliest.
Company appointments on December 13th
- 07:00 a.m., Germany: Fraport, traffic figures 11/21
- 3:00 p.m., Germany: Rational, Capital Markets Day
Economic appointments on December 13th
- 12:50 a.m., Japan: Tankan Q4 / 21
- 12:50 a.m., Japan: Core rate machine orders 10/20
- 8:00 a.m., Germany: wholesale prices 11/21
- 8:00 a.m., Germany: producer prices for agricultural products 10/21
- 10:00 a.m., Italy: Unemployment rate Q3 / 21
Other dates on December 13th
- 2:00 p.m., Germany: Online event by the GIGA research institute on “The Long Game: How China is negotiating with India”, Hamburg
- 3:30 p.m., Germany / USA: US Supreme Court is expected to announce whether it will accept Bayer’s complaint in the glyphosate litigation for trial
- Belgium: Meeting of EU Foreign Ministers, Brussels
- Frankfurt / Europe: French President Macron visits Hungary – meeting with Visegrad group
With agency material