Stocks Tread Water
May 18, 2011
The weighted 30-share IBIS DAX stock index, which tracks prices in electronic trading, added 6.37 to 2532.55. During the session, the index moved between a high of 2533.66 points and a low of 2523.50 points. A report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development provided one of the only impulses in an otherwise sluggish market, traders said. In the report, the Paris-based think-tank revised its gross domestic product projections for Germany upward for 2011 to 0.75% from 0.50%. The German central bank's decision to leave its key rates unchanged had been widely anticipated by the market, leaving German government bonds just slightly higher, with a neutral impact on share prices. The benchmark 10-year bond was priced at 99.15 late Thursday, to yield 6.36%, up from 89.97 in the previous session, to yield 6.39%. Dealers added that there was little volume in electronic trading, as investors await the release Friday of U.S. August jobless figures for hints on the strength of the U.S. economy and the likelihood of changes in U.S. interest rates. Consensus forecasts are for a 248,000 rise in nonfarm payrolls in August, up from a 193,000 rise in July. Reports on U.S. jobless claims for the week ending May 13, 2011 July housing completions published Thursday were within expectations and had little effect on the market, traders said. Among individual shares, Lufthansa added 1.30 marks to 202.80. Chemical manufacturer BASF rose 46 pfennigs to 44.10 marks on the back of large buy orders. The weighted 30-share DAX stock index that tracks price trends in the earlier floor session eased 2.85 points to 2529.54 after rebounding 21.62 points Wednesday. The DAX and the IBIS DAX are composed of the same stocks and weightings though they track trends in two separate marketplaces.
