The leading German index lost 0.2 percent to 16,877 points. After the recent gains, a breather before the weekend should come as no surprise, according to analysts at Helaba. Over the week, the DAX is up around two percent. A mixture of strong company balance sheets and economic data in some cases, as well as hopes of interest rate cuts in the near future, had recently driven the leading German index back towards its all-time high of 17,003.28 points.

However, investors still have to be patient when it comes to interest rate policy. After the interest rate meeting on Thursday, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, remained rather vague on the subject of interest rate cuts, said Christian Henke from broker IG. "Investors are already a little worried that the first interest rate cut will come later than hoped." The euro guardians have raised interest rates ten times since summer 2022 in the fight against high inflation, most recently in September. Since then, they have remained at the interest rate plateau reached, as inflation has now eased significantly.

There has been speculation on the financial markets for weeks that monetary policy will soon be eased. The euro closed the week slightly weaker at 1.0838 dollars. The dollar index barely budged and stood at 103.55 points. The US Federal Reserve will decide on the key interest rate next week. Experts expect the monetary authorities to remain silent for the fourth time in a row, having previously tightened the monetary reins considerably.

SARTORIUS ON THE RISE

On the corporate side, the current balance sheet season caused some significant price swings. The shares of laboratory and pharmaceutical supplier Sartorius were at the top of the Dax, rising by more than twelve percent at times. The company aims to grow again this year following a slump in business in 2023. The significant price gains at Sartorius also pulled Merck shares upwards. The shares of the pharmaceutical and technology group were 6.8 percent higher at the top of the Dax.

Shares in Deutsche Telekom, on the other hand, fell by 1.8 percent. The balance sheet of the US mobile subsidiary T-Mobile weighed on sentiment. Net income in the fourth quarter fell surprisingly sharply to 1.67 dollars per share.

CHIP STOCKS WEAKEN AFTER INTEL FIGURES

Chip stocks came under pressure across Europe following Intel's disappointing targets for the current quarter. Infineon lost 1.5 percent in the Dax. STMicro and ASM International fell by 3.5 and 2.8 percent respectively. Intel shares slumped by around twelve percent in pre-market US trading. "Intel is also causing long faces on the stock market because investors have named the chip sector as one of the favorites for 2024 following the optimistic outlook from Asian competitor TSMC," said Jürgen Molnar from RoboMarkets.

On the Paris stock exchange, French cognac producer Remy Cointreau was the talk of the town. Sluggish sales in the face of high inflation and an economic downturn weighed on turnover in the third quarter - although revenue did not fall quite as sharply as expected. The share price climbed 12.4 percent.

(Report by: Daniela Pegna, edited by Myria Mildenberger. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)