Wall Street remains in record mode

Thanks to undimmed hopes of significant interest rate cuts in the coming year, the record-breaking run on the US stock markets continues. Investors are also relieved that the yield on ten-year US government bonds remains below four percent on the bond market.

Wall Street has continued its record-breaking run with market interest rates falling again. Both the Dow Jones Index and the Nasdaq-100 reached all-time highs. The Dow Jones Index rose by 0.7 percent to 37,558 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6 and 0.7 percent respectively. There were 2303 (Monday: 1437) price gainers on the Nyse, compared with 579 (1398) losers. A total of 57 (66) stocks closed unchanged. "This is the kind of rally you want to see, a rally with broad participation," said investment analyst Callie Cox of eToro.

Bond yields falling again kept interest rate cut speculation alive and drove share prices to new highs. The extent to which interest rate speculation is currently fueling the markets was demonstrated by the US real estate market, which set a positive exclamation mark. Housing starts rose significantly in November, although the market had been expecting a slight decline. Construction activity is decisively dominated by interest rate trends.

After the US Federal Reserve announced three interest rate cuts for 2024 last week, this was underpinned by statements from Mary Daly, Fed President of San Francisco. According to her, it would be appropriate for the Fed to start cutting interest rates in 2024, as inflation has fallen this year. Her Fed colleague from Richmond, Thomas Barkin, attested to the central bank's "good progress" in the fight against inflation. His statements also fueled speculation about interest rate cuts in 2024, along with the confirmation of the ultra-loose monetary policy in Japan. This encouraged investors to assume that the signs would shift towards monetary easing.

Dollar and yen under pressure

The dollar fell as market interest rates fell and speculation increased that interest rates would soon be cut. The dollar index lost 0.4 percent. In contrast, the yen fell sharply after the Japanese central bank's statements. However, the losses were not as high as initially thought. This indicates that investors are still assuming that the Bank of Japan will tighten its monetary policy next year, according to analysts at Unicredit. Meanwhile, the fall in market interest rates drove up the price of gold, which was also supported by the weakness of the dollar.

Oil prices rose again after their strong gains of the previous day. The focus remained on developments in the Red Sea. Major shipping companies as well as oil and gas companies had rerouted their routes due to the escalating attacks by the Yemeni and Iranian-controlled Huthi rebels and are now sending their ships around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa. "Investors and consumers have not forgotten how disrupted supply chains have impacted prices following the pandemic," warned market strategist Danni Hewson of AJ Bell. "The news that shipping companies will no longer use the Red Sea route is worrying."

Upswing for Boeing - Curevac slumps

Boeing climbed 1.2 percent in the Dow. For the first time after a long break, Deutsche Lufthansa ordered short and medium-haul aircraft from the US manufacturer. Alphabet shares, the parent company of Google, were 0.6 percent firmer. Google has settled one of several antitrust proceedings by paying 700 million US dollars and making changes to its app store.

Curevac had suffered a defeat at the German Federal Patent Court against competitor Biontech. The patent court declared Curevac's patent EP 1 857 122 B1 invalid. As a result, Curevac shares fell by 29.6 percent. In contrast, Biontech shares, which are also listed in the USA, rose by 3 percent, while the share price of Biontech's partner Pfizer increased by 4.1 percent.

The shares of Bluebird Bio slumped by 20.3 percent. The biotechnology company had announced a capital increase. The fertilizer and chemical manufacturer FMC Corp declared that it had initiated a global restructuring plan in response to the downturn in the global crop protection market. The share price reacted with an increase of 3.5 percent. Alcoa was 6.2 percent higher. The aluminum producer expects cost benefits of up to 40 million dollars in the fourth quarter. Fuelcell Energy lost 4.6 percent after weak fourth-quarter figures.