As every Sunday, the most important news from the past week, as well as the dates for the coming week.
Also as a video:
https://youtube.com/shorts/HLVwMKknjjE?si=C068aLJUPJ_HvBX-
Monday:
Absurd news in the morning, many tax offices are canceling their accounts with the savings banks because the costs are too high for them. This is absurd because savings banks belong to the public sector. Instead, the tax offices are switching to accounts at the Bundesbank, which they can also use.
Contrary to expectations on Saturday, the inflation rate in Germany 🇩🇪 has not risen again, but at 2.2% is just as high as in the previous month. The inflation rate was therefore slightly below expectations.
Despite the poor construction sector, our value stock $STO3 (+0,38%) Sto is achieving its own targets and is therefore clearly in the black. While turnover fell by just under 4 % in 2023, it is expected to increase again in 2024. The dividend is set to remain unchanged at EUR 5 per share.
Tuesday:
$MBG (-1,34%) Mercedes Benz earns significantly less in the 1st quarter. Profit fell by 30% to 3.9 billion euros. Turnover also fell by more than 4% to 35.9 billion euros. One of the main reasons remains Bosch's failure to deliver enough 48-volt batteries to Mercedes. Cash flow remains stable.
$VOW3 (-3,77%) Volkswagen is doing better. Turnover fell by only 1% compared to the previous year. Profit after tax 'only' fell by 22% to 3.71 billion euros. While Porsche and Audi were rather disappointing, the mass brands VW, Seat / Cupra and Skoda earned more money.
At 0.2%, the German economy grew more strongly than expected in the first quarter. Construction investment and exports are the main drivers of growth. There are also positive signals from the retail sector for the coming weeks.
Inflation in the eurozone 🇪🇺 also remains stable at a rate of 2.4%. The even more important core inflation (adjusted for food prices, tobacco, alcohol and energy prices) even fell from 2.9% in March to 2.7% in April. There is therefore much to suggest that interest rates will be cut for the first time in June.
Wednesday:
The US (Fed) 🇺🇸 leaves key interest rates in the range of 5.25 - 5.5 %. This is not a surprising decision. It should come as a relief that Powell considers a rate hike as the next step to be unlikely.
Thursday:
$BOSS (+1,55%) HUGO BOSS continues on its growth path. Sales in the first quarter increase by 6% to over one billion euros. Due to falling inventories, cash flow also improves by 12 million euros. The downturn in China remains a downer.
There was also good news for our value stock $BAYN (-0,7%) Bayer. In addition to glyphosate, Bayer also has to fight against PCB lawsuits that were bought into the company with Monsanto. However, an appeals court has now completely overturned a damages payment of almost 200 million dollars. This increases the likelihood that the company will get off lightly in the PCB case.
Friday:
The US labor market data 🇺🇸 is weaker than expected, increasing the likelihood of interest rate cuts, which is well received by the stock market. The unemployment rate rose to 3.9%. Only 175,000 jobs were created instead of the 238,000 expected. Hourly wages also rose less strongly than expected.
These are the most important dates for the coming week:
Monday: 14:45 Press conference (ECB)
Thursday: 3:30 Inflation data (China)
Thursday: 14:00 Interest rate decision (UK)