DE30: DAX under pressure from incoming macro data

• Macro data lifts European stock markets lower

• HSBC downgrades Heidelberg Materials (HEI.DE) shares

• Suedzucker (SZU.DE) surprises with results and raises full-year forecasts 

Thursday's European trading session brings a continuation of the wave of declines initiated yesterday. New fuel for the sell-off in Europe was provided by the FOMC Minutes, which showed that the bankers of the world's dominant economy had not yet completed the interest rate hike cycle.Moreover, the scale of the sell-off increased after the reading of the ADP report from the USA, which showed a huge increase in employment in the USA, thus raising hawkish bets against the Fed.

The US ADP report: 

Actual reading: 497k (expected: 225k; previous: 278k).

Huge employment gains shown by the ADP report. Previous reading minimally revised downwards to 267k. In addition, the ADP report shows that wages rose by 6.4% YoY in June

The mood in Europe during Thursday's trading session is clearly negative. Source: xStation 5

German DE30 contracts are trading below the lower limit of the uptrend and the local minima from the end of June this year during today's session. Source: xStation 5

News:

HSBC has downgraded its recommendation on shares of Heidelberg Materials (HEI.DE) to 'hold' from its previous 'buy' rating. On the other hand, however, the target price was increased by 10% to €81 per share.

Heidelberg Materials (HEI.DE) shares are currently losing 2.74%. Source: xStation 5

Gerresheimer (GXI.DE) shares are recovering from the morning's declines caused by the company's failure to raise its earnings forecasts for the year. The company reported quarterly results that overall pleased investors. 

Source: Bloomberg

A very upbeat sentiment was recorded by the shares of Suedzucker (SZU.DE), which gained more than 5% on the wave of results publication. As the analysts at Warsburg added, the start of the year has been exceptionally good for the company. Attention in this aspect comes down primarily to the huge increase in EBITDA mainly from the sugar segment, with significantly higher selling prices. The company has also raised its full-year targets, and the El Nino phenomenon may be a factor supporting these increased forecasts.

Detailed financial data and the company's new forecasts. Source: Bloomberg

Suedzucker (SZU.DE) share price chart, D1 interval. Source: xStation 5

Major percentage changes in individual companies of the DAX index. Source: Bloomberg

Information from individual companies in the DAX index. Source: Bloomberg