Friday, November 26th, 2021
Fear of lockdown depresses prices
B.1.1.529 attacks the stock markets
A new Corona variant and the still manageable level of knowledge are making the markets nervous. There are no longer many options in the fight against a situation that may worsen even further. And so the field of losers and winners is divided again along the lockdown line.
A coronavirus variant has put investors on the run. The new corona virus variant B.1.1.529 that has appeared in South Africa and the associated uncertainties were the main topics on the floors of the trading venues. At the end of the week, the players on the stock markets switched to the seller side in droves and created a buying mood on the bond side.
“The new mutation changes the risk assessment of the pandemic on the floor,” says Thomas Altmann, portfolio strategist at QC Partner. If this variant is actually more contagious and immune to vaccines, the only way to combat it would be massive restrictions. That would be poison for economic growth and corporate profits.
The leading German index Dax dropped by 4.2 percent to 15,257 points. Now after a record high in mid-November at just under 16,300 points, it is back to its lowest level since mid-October. His weekly loss is 5.6 percent. For the Euro-Stoxx-50 it went down 4.7 percent to 4090 points. Of the MDax lost 3.3 percent to 33,850 points. In contrast, the Bund future made a strong leap upwards, so yields on the bond market fell correspondingly sharply.
Read more details on today’s trading history here.
There were also significant taxes on oil prices, falling by more than ten percent. Gold was initially in demand, but it also slipped down in the end. Bitcoin had to give way. The dollar gave way. Because the new Covid worries could lead to the US Federal Reserve slowing down the tightening course it has embarked on and has recently accelerated.
Lockdown fear makes the courses
In this environment, risk reduction was the motto on the stock market. Shares were sold from sectors that are believed to be the first and most severely affected by another corona wave. The travel and leisure stocks sector fell 8.8 percent. Among the individual values, IAG fell by around 15 percent, Lufthansa 12.8 percent, Fraport 11.5 percent and Airbus by 11.5 percent.
Oil values plummeted 5.8 percent as demand for oil would suffer from another economic shutdown. But bank shares (minus 6.9 percent) were also sold off. In addition to the economic worries, another negative factor here is that market interest rates are falling sharply again, which is reducing margins in the lending business.
As in previous corona waves, so-called “stay-at-home shares” performed significantly better than the broader market. In Germany, for example, the Hellofresh delivery service increased by 5.1 percent, while its competitor Delivery Hero rose by 2.9 percent. Shares such as PostNL, the laboratory equipment supplier Sartorius, the mail-order pharmacies Zur Rose and Shop Apotheke or Teamviewer also showed significant gains. Zalando gained 5.5 percent.