“The bears continue to rage on European stock markets and there is no end in sight,” said one comment. The potential drop is considerable, especially in view of the many trouble spots and problems.
In an environment of rising interest rates and costs, investors are generally concerned about global economic growth. The Ukraine war and the effects of the pandemic restrictions in China, from where weak trade figures came on Monday, also remain major uncertainties.
“We have risks everywhere at the moment. It’s difficult to look positively into the future,” said a market observer. In recent years, market participants have been spoiled by the support provided by the central banks. But now their hands are tied.
The Swiss Market Index (SMI) lost 2.44 percent on Monday to 11,444.18 points, closing at the low for the day. In the past week, the local leading index had already fallen 3.3 percent. “We are in a bear market,” commented one stockbroker.
The biggest losers in the SLI were technology stocks such as Logitech (-6.2%), VAT (-5.8%) and AMS Osram (-5.7%). These could not escape the negative specifications of the American Nasdaq. And on Monday, the US stock exchanges – and especially the US technology exchange – continued to fall sharply.
Growth stocks, which include technology stocks, but also medical technology stocks such as Sonova (-7.7%) or Straumann (-6.6%), are suffering severely from rising interest rates, as these make financing more expensive. Concerns about the economy are causing problems for cyclical stocks such as Sika (-5.9%), Adecco (-5.2%), Kühne+Nagel (-4.8%) and Givaudan (-4.4%).
The heavyweight Roche (inc.), on the other hand, bucked the trend as “safe haven” stocks, as it was called in the trade. Although Novartis (-1.5%) and Nestlé (-2.4%) lost, they fared better compared to the massive losses on the market.
Against this background, other important European stock market indices also fell significantly. The German Dax lost 2.2 percent, the Paris leading index Cac 40 2.8 percent and the London FTSE 100 2.3 percent. (SDA)