European Stocks and Currencies in a State of Caution
The DAX index, Germany’s leading stock market index, continued its downward trend on Thursday, with a 0.8 percent decline to 23,935 points by 12:30 pm, a drop of nearly 200 points from the previous day’s close.
Despite only three of the 40 DAX companies showing positive growth, market analyst Andreas Lipkow believes that investors are exercising caution on both the buy and sell sides. This is reflected in the stagnant trading volume in the DAX Future, a trend that has persisted over the past few trading days, indicating a lack of strong buying or selling pressure.
The current outlook for German companies is promising, despite a less-than-ideal business environment, according to Lipkow. Today’s releases of US labor market data, US purchasing managers’ indices and US housing market statistics will be closely watched, he said.
The euro, the European Union’s common currency, weakened against the US dollar on Thursday, with one euro exchanging for 1.1296 US dollars and one US dollar for 0.8853 euros.