The DAX slipped further to the downside on Thursday after an already weak start to the trading day. At around 12:30 p.m. the benchmark index stood near 25,105 points, 0.7 % below the previous day’s closing level. The strongest performers were Rheinmetall, FMC and Scout24, while Airbus, BMW and Volkswagen lagged at the bottom of the list.
“Investors today react somewhat snobbishly to both Airbus’s quarterly figures and to the disappointing numbers from Italian supplier Enel” said Andreas Lipkow, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. “Both sets of data hit cyclicals and utilities in the DAX 40, leaving only 14 companies in the index in profit”.
Lipkow added that Europe’s economic outlook remains volatile and still far from a sustained recovery. “At best, the economies appear to be in a stagnation phase, trying to form a trough” he noted. “Positive economic data had repeatedly sparked optimism, but this has not been supported by isolated corporate releases. The defence industry and the construction boom around the AI sector are currently key supports, yet a broad economic recovery remains elusive”.
At midday the euro was slightly stronger: one euro bought 1.1790 U.S. dollars, and one U.S. dollar was worth 0.8482 euros.
Meanwhile, oil prices rose sharply. At about 12:00 p.m. German time, a barrel of North Sea Brent fetched $71.17, an increase of 82 cents, or 1.2 %, compared with the previous day’s closing price.