Despite weak guidance from overseas, especially from Asia, the DAX held its ground today - the German leading index continued to fluctuate sideways, as it did recently, and was slightly above the round mark of 25,000 points. The weak specifications from Asia initially had a negative impact - there the wave of sales in semiconductor stocks that had already started the day before on the US technology exchange Nasdaq continued.
But the index recovered relatively quickly and ultimately closed slightly higher by 0.33 percent at 25,382 points. The DAX has been hovering around the 25,000 point mark all week. Since the index hardly contains any large tech stocks with a direct connection to artificial intelligence, the effects of the international losses in the tech sector were manageable today.
Rather, German and European investors are concerned about the continued high oil prices, but also concerns about the escalating national debt of some large EU countries such as France and Italy. The situation has calmed down somewhat recently, but the topic remains at the top of the stock market's agenda.
The trigger for the losses overseas was, among other things, surprisingly high inflation data from the USA. They are fueling concerns that the US Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates. Most recently, consumer prices in the USA rose by 3.7 percent, which was mainly due to high energy prices.
At their meeting on October 27th and 28th, the monetary authorities will discuss the future interest rate course in the USA. The key interest rate is currently 3.75 to 4.00 percent. Many experts believe a further increase is possible this year, probably in December.
Investors are questioning whether the high valuations of many technology companies are still justified given the economic and monetary risks. "They are increasingly wondering what price they should pay for this growth when interest rates are high and may continue to rise," said Charu Chanana, investment strategist at Saxo Bank.
Because higher interest rates make loans and investments more expensive. Technology stocks are particularly sensitive to this, as their valuations are often based on high profit expectations for the future and are heavily dependent on financing. There are also fears that competition for memory chips could intensify. After the strong price gains of the past few months, investors are apparently taking profits and reacting sensitively to possible changes in demand.
However, the raw numbers from the tech industry do not justify investors' fears. After the Dutch semiconductor company ASML, the world's largest Taiwanese chip contract manufacturer TSMC also presented its quarterly figures today. The company achieved another profit record in the third quarter. The momentum in orders for AI data centers caused profits to rise by over two thirds year-on-year to the equivalent of 21.2 billion euros, as the group announced. Analysts on average had expected less.
TSMC is benefiting significantly from the boom in artificial intelligence and the high demand for high-performance semiconductors. The group produces chips for numerous large technology companies and thus plays a central role in the global semiconductor industry supply chain.
The pronounced weakness in the price of technology stocks continues on Wall Street. The fear that rising interest rates on the capital markets could increasingly question companies' investments in artificial intelligence, which are financed with high levels of debt, still has the market in its grip.
At least there are signs of relaxation on the US bond market: bond yields are falling. Meanwhile, US retail sales rose more than expected in September. At the same time, producer prices rose more significantly than expected.
The Nasdaq technology exchange lost around 1.8 percent at midday local time. The leading index of standard values, the Dow Jones leading index, increased moderately by 0.3 percent.
