Good morning everyone,
the first week after the election is almost behind us. It will probably take a few more weeks before the new government is finally in place. Despite the four selfie from the Greens and the FDP and the unanimously proclaimed – almost song-like – sounding out for “similarities and bridges across divisions” via Instagram.
When we paused for a moment in the Handelsblatt newsroom on election Sunday and stood around the big screen on which the bars of the first official projection flickered instead of numbers for visitors, page views and the like, we suspected: It could take a while.
Because there is only three. And regardless of whether traffic lights or maybe Jamaica after all: in both three-party alliances, each party would have to make concessions. In addition to climate protection – which everyone wants, but everyone else – there are a few more sticking points.
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- Example taxes: Union and FDP want down, SPD and Greens up.
- Take the minimum wage, for example: the SPD and the Greens are in favor of twelve euros, the Union and the FDP against it.
- And then there is the speed limit demanded by the SPD and the Greens, which should not be underestimated. After all, as the last advocate of free travel, the FDP also scored points with the first-time voters.
The agenda for the next few days is clear: everyone meets everyone. For the Greens and the FDP there was the second round of talks on Friday. On Sunday, the CDU and CSU will speak to the Liberals, and then on Tuesday to the Greens. Also on Sunday, the SPD wants to sound out separately with the Greens and the FDP. It won’t be the final laps.
The ambitions of the Greens and the FDP to really want to change something will be decisive for the future of Germany, says my colleague Sebastian Matthes.
One can only hope that the new government – as Olaf Scholz asserts – will be in place by Christmas. Maybe everything will go faster than expected. As the new four-dream team wrote in its post: “Exciting times.”
What else has been on our minds this week:
1. For almost two weeks now, the leading index has counted the 40 most valuable German companies instead of 30. The new DAX members, however, have a hard time: their price has often risen excessively before promotion. We have analyzed who is now at risk of falling – and who is growing into their assessment.
2. A wave of takeovers of superlatives is rolling through the tech industry. There were $ 878 billion in tech acquisitions worldwide in the first nine months of the year, up 144 percent. And experts do not expect the trend to weaken in the coming months, on the contrary.
3. In the middle of the preparations for his government formation, SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz is caught up with the Cum-Ex tax affair. On Tuesday officials approached his long-time companion Johannes Kahrs. It is about the allegation of aiding and abetting tax evasion in connection with the Cum-Ex scandal.
(Photo: DOUG MILLS / The New York Times / Re)
4th The US Congress has averted a budget freeze for the time being, but the far greater problem of an impending US default remains. For US President Joe Biden it is also particularly bitter that his most important economic and social policy projects are also stuck in Congress. The ultra-slim majorities in Congress are to blame for the chaos – and also Biden’s own party, which cannot get its rival wings under control.
5. China’s economy is based on the booming real estate sector. But Beijing turned away from this growth model not only since the Evergrande crisis. State and party leader Xi Jinping wants to reduce dependence on the real estate sector and on exports. Instead, domestic consumption is said to drive the world’s second largest economy. It’s a profound transformation.
6th On Friday, the Daimler shareholders approved the plan with 99.9 percent to split the group into two parts. After saying goodbye to the US-heavy truck business, Asia is now becoming the dominant sales region for the remaining car business with a share of 32 percent in sales. “We’re becoming more Chinese, no question about it,” says a Daimler manager. The cluster risk in China, however, is not a pure Daimler phenomenon; VW and BMW are also becoming dangerously dependent on China.
7th Europe will become the world’s second largest battery market in the next few years. This is shown by the latest market figures. Not only cell manufacturers and car companies are pushing into the booming market, technology suppliers such as BASF are also fighting for market share and are investing billions in battery chemistry. Lithium-ion batteries are still likely to remain more expensive than hoped.
8th. More than four percent inflation in Germany in September – and 3.4 percent in the euro zone. Everything to be expected, the European Central Bank weighs up. But economists name four global trends that suggest that prices are rising significantly faster than before. Ex-US Treasury Secretary and Harvard economist Larry Summers also warns: “The similarities to the 1960s are worrying.”
9. Higher inflation is commonly seen as poison for stocks. Nevertheless, we found ten stocks from Europe and the USA that are unlikely to be affected by rising prices.
I wish you a relaxing weekend.
sincerely
Her
Kirsten Ludowig
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Handelsblatt
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