In recent trading days, investors have focused in particular on fresh US inflation data. In addition, the customs dispute caused a great deal of unrest and thus movement on the stock markets. In Germany, the focus was on latecomers to the current reporting season, such as BMW.
DAX 40 Chart
Source: TradingView
Further escalation of tariff conflict feared - impact on global economy likely to remain unclear
The tariff dispute between the US and major economies remains a key source of uncertainty for the markets, which continues to threaten to escalate.
"The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive tax and customs agencies in the world, created for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, just put a nasty 50 percent tariff on whiskey," Trump wrote on his online network Truth Social.
On Wednesday, the EU Commission announced its intention to impose counter-tariffs on US imports amounting to 26 billion dollars. However, negotiations are still open, it said.
If the conflict continues to escalate, this is likely to be at the expense of general risk appetite.
"JOLTs" turn out somewhat better than expected - labor market with contradictory signals
At 7.74 million units, the so-called "JOLTs", which reflect the vacancies on the labor market, were above expectations (7.63 million). In the previous month, 7.60 million units were reported.
The Fed is likely to continue to keep an eye on the development of the US labor market. Just a week ago, however, the official US jobs report for the past month was weaker than expected.
US inflation falls more sharply than expected - interest rate cut fantasies may have received new impetus
US consumer price data (including energy and food) came in at 2.8% in January (compared to the previous month), below expectations (2.9%) after 3.0% in January.
The core rate of inflation, which is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, was also weaker than expected at 3.1% (3.2%), compared with 3.3% in the previous month.
On Thursday, US producer prices confirmed the downward price trend, remaining unchanged from the previous month (0%) after 0.3% in January.
German inflation as high as in January at 2.3 percent
The final inflation rates for the Federal Republic of Germany were published this morning. Goods and services became 2.3% more expensive in February, the same as in January, after 2.6% in December.
The ECB is targeting an inflation rate of 2.0% for the eurozone. According to European standards, however, the German inflation rate is 2.6%.
Finally, new consumer confidence data (Reuters/University of Michigan) will be on the agenda this afternoon (15:00).
BMW with profit slump - China business suffers
The Munich-based car manufacturer BMW (ISIN: DE0005190003) has reported a significant drop in profits for the past year. The slump in sales in China was one of the main reasons for this. After tax, BMW earned 7.7 billion euros, 37 percent less than in 2023. In addition to poor business in China, problems with a brake system from supplier Continental were also cited.
BMW share
Source: TradingView
