German Jobless Rate Edged Up, European Bond Yields Inched Higher

Bridgette Randall
03 Jan, 2024
Frankfurt

European markets lacked direction, and investors reviewed the latest economic reports from around the world.

Germany's jobless rate edged slightly higher to 5.9% in December from the revised 5.8% in the previous month, the Federal Employment Agency reported Wednesday.

The jobless rate advanced to the highest since May 2021 and increased for the eleventh month in a row by 5,000 to 2.703 million.

The number of unemployed increased by 186,000 from the previous year, but the jobless rate ranged from 3.4% in Bavaria to 6.0% in Brandenburg to 9.2% in Berlin.

 

Europe Indexes and Yields

The DAX index decreased 0.6% to 16,677.88, the CAC-40 index fell 1.0% to 7,453.23, and the FTSE 100 index inched lower by 0.53% to 7,680.34.

The yield on 10-year German bonds decreased to 2.05%; French bonds inched lower to 2.59%; the UK gilts edged up to 3.64%; and Italian bonds advanced to 3.73%.

The euro edged lower to $1.092, the British pound inched lower to $1.262, and the U.S. dollar eased to 85.43 Swiss cents.

Brent crude decreased $0.05 to $75.85 a barrel, and the Dutch TTF natural gas increased by €1.15 to €31.73 per MWh.

 

Europe Stock Movers

Maersk increased 4.4% to DKK 13,475.0 after the company announced its plan not to resume shipping through the Red Sea lanes "until further notice."

ASML Holding declined 1.9% to €651.80 and extended its loss from the previous session after the Dutch government halted shipments of advanced chipmaking equipment to China.

Atos SE decreased 4.8% to €6.65 after the company said it plans to initiate due diligence talks with Airbus with a potential sale of its big data and security unit.

Ryanair Holdings plc decreased 4.4% to €18.29 after the budget airline said the number of online travel platforms had suspended selling its flights in early December.

The budget airline said the removal of its flights is not likely to affect its financial outlook and passenger count, but the move has affected its load factor in December and January by "1% to 2%."

The online travel platforms, including Kayak, Booking.com, and Kiwi, dropped the company's flights following the Irish court granting the airline a permanent injunction against the screenscraper Flightbox for "unlawfully scraping Ryanair content" and distributing it to online travel platforms.

The budget airline also announced that its December traffic increased by 9% to 12.54 million, but the load factor declined to 91% from 92% a year ago.

Wizz Air Holdings declined 3.4% to 2,142.0 pence, and the budget carrier said December traffic increased 18% from a year ago to 4,964,857.