30 a..m., an increase of about 0.9 % from yesterday’s close. Siemens led the gains, followed by Commerzbank, Deutsche Telekom and Continental; Symrise and Mercedes‑Benz were at the bottom. Mercedes‑Benz announced its significant profit decline for the last fiscal year and will therefore reduce its dividend.
CMC Markets’ chief market analyst Andreas Lipkow said investors are still being confronted with a torrent of divergent signals. He noted that the U.S. labor‑market data released on Wednesday, while solid, has seen several revisions that substantially altered the overall view of the U.S. economy. Consequently, the upcoming initial job‑seeker claims are expected to carry increasing weight.
Lipkow added that Europe appears to be settling into a low‑growth equilibrium, as evidenced by recent quarterly figures from Siemens Energy, Commerzbank and Siemens. He stressed that Europe’s economic outlook remains heavily dependent on China, the United States, and that EU defence spending provides an additional boost to this stability.
At the same time, the euro gained a touch against the dollar, trading at $1.1880 per €1 and €0.8418 per $1. Brent crude in the North Sea rose to $69.65 per barrel at 9 a.m. German time, up $0.25 or 0.4 % from the close of the previous trading day.