At the start of trading, the Dax gained 0.7 percent and was trading at 15,288 points. The Dax thus breaks through a sideways range that lies between 14,906 points on the lower and 15,270 points on the upper side. According to chart technology, a sustained breakout of this range should point the way for further development on the stock markets.
The Fed’s decision came as little surprise to investors: as expected, the central bank increased the interest rate by 25 basis points to the new range of 4.50 to 4.75 percent. Nevertheless, US investors were briefly startled, the Dow Jones lost more than 300 points in the meantime, but then recovered again.
In a statement, the central bankers wrote that they considered “further interest rate hikes” to be “appropriate” and at the press conference that followed, central bank chief Jerome Powell emphasized that the time for interest rate hikes was not over yet. We will remain on course until the work is done. The Fed’s job is to bring inflation to 2 percent, Powell said.
The decision was largely well received in Asia: in Tokyo, the Nikkei index rose 0.2 percent to 27,402 points on Thursday. The stock exchange in Shanghai, on the other hand, showed little change. The index of the most important companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell slightly. In South Korea, the index rose almost one percent.
Investors are turning their attention to Europe this Thursday, where the ECB’s interest rate decision is pending. There shouldn’t be any big surprises here either. An increase of 0.5 percentage points is expected. This would result in a trend reversal: So far, the Fed has raised its interest rates more than the ECB – today’s decision would change that.
>> Read here: Interest rates, outlook, inflation – these are the points that matter at today’s ECB meeting
Investors are also hoping that ECB President Christine Lagarde will comment on inflation, although no new central bank forecasts are forthcoming for the time being. In December, the central bankers surprisingly raised their forecasts sharply.
The Bank of England will also announce its next rate hike at midday. Here, too, an increase of half a percentage point is expected.
Company figures in focus
In addition to monetary policy, company figures will also be in focus on Thursday. Even before the start of trading in Frankfurt, some large companies presented their results.
Deutsche Bank was able to increase its profits by 159 percent to EUR 5.02 billion, significantly exceeding analyst expectations. It is the bank’s best result in 15 years. With a return on equity of 9.4 percent, the bank was also well above the target of eight percent it had set itself.
However, the bank only owes this return to a positive tax effect. Investors were disappointed by the figures. The stock therefore falls significantly.
Things were not going so well for the Deutsche Bank subsidiary DWS: The consolidated result fell by 23 percent to 599 million euros. The reason for this was falling prices on the stock exchanges and the processing of the greenwashing allegations. The company promised a dividend of EUR 2.05 after EUR 2 in the previous year. The papers lose 6.2 percent.
The chip group Infineon also presented its figures in the morning: The Dax group continues to benefit from the energy transition and the trend towards electromobility.
In the first fiscal quarter Infineon posted sales of EUR 3.95 billion and achieved an operating margin of 28 percent. Although sales fell by five percent compared to the previous quarter, profitability exceeded expert estimates.
At EUR 728 million, profit was around one percent below that of the previous quarter. For the year as a whole, Infineon expects sales of EUR 15.5 billion. The papers gain 5.3 percent.
euros and oil
Statements by US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell caused the dollar to fall against other major currencies. On Thursday morning, the dollar was down 0.3 percent to 100.94 after falling to a nine-month low of 100.80 after Powell’s news conference. In return, the euro rose by 0.2 percent to USD 1.10 before the interest rate decision by the European Central Bank.
Oil prices recovered somewhat on Thursday morning from the previous day’s sharp declines. In the morning, a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent for delivery in April cost 83.21 US dollars. That was 37 cents more than the day before. The price of a barrel of American grade West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery rose by 44 cents to $76.85.
Look at the individual values
Hugo Boss: Analysts at Jefferies have downgraded the fashion group’s stock from “buy” to “hold”. The papers are initially almost unchanged.
Siemens Healthineers: The company posted a 30 percent drop in profits in the first quarter. The stock still gains 4.3 percent.
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