DE30: Stocks wipe out downward momentum ahead of NFP reading!

• Indices in Europe are losing, but the sheer scale of the sell-off is minima

• General sentiment has improved somewhat after a series of sell-offs in recent sessions

• The No. 1 topic of today's session is the NFP report from the US

• Carl Zeiss Meditec (AFX.DE), Vonovia (VNA.DE) and Credit Agricole (ACA.FR) earnings in market spotlight

European stock markets in this week's final trading session are behaving much better after the wave of sell-offs of recent sessions. Although most indices are trading below yesterday's closing levels, the sheer scale of the declines is virtually imperceptible. 

The key topic of the last session this week will be the very important NFP report from the USA, which will indicate the state of the US labour market, which, let us remind ourselves, is, apart from inflation itself, the most important determinant of any future FOMC decision on interest rates. The report will be released at 14:30, so investors should keep a close eye on how the market will react to this report. 

The mood in Europe improved markedly during this week's last trading session. Very good sentiment currently prevails primarily in the banking, oil and aviation sectors. Source: xStation 5

German DE30 futures remain close to yesterday's closing levels, but it is worth noting that the index attempted today to permanently break above the psychological barrier at 16 000 points. However, this test, at least for the time being, proved unsuccessful and the index returned to the 15 950 point zone. Source: xStation 5

News:

The shares of Carl Zeiss Meditec (AFX.DE) are attempting to make up for the morning's declines due to a drop in EBIT margin to 16.2% against last year's 20.7%. The company additionally lowered its forecast for the 2022/2023 fiscal year in terms of this margin to a range of 17-20% (forecast at the lower end of this range). 

Quotations of the company's shares, D1 interval. Source: xStation 5

Today's session is also not very kind to investors of Vonovia (VNA.DE), whose shares are currently losing more than 3% following the publication of weak quarterly results. 

The company's Q2 loss amounted to €2.1 billion compared to last year's profit of €1.8 billion and it wrote down the value of its real estate holdings by €3 billion due to the weakness of the real estate sector in Germany. Companies in this sector will apply for government assistance in the face of a tough business climate.

As the company's CEO added, an increase in the company's capital is not under consideration at this time.

Quotations of the company's shares, D1 interval. Source: xStation 5

In the banking market, sentiment is improved today mainly by Credit Agricole Bank (ACA.FR), which beat expectations in terms of Q2 2023 results and announced the expansion of its wealth management business through the acquisition of Degroof Petercam for €1.5 billion. The bank's Q2 net profit came in at €2.04 billion against expectations of €1.39 billion, recording a year-on-year increase of 25%. 

Quotations of the company's shares, D1 interval. Source: xStation 5

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

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