Cheerful AEX continues winning streak | Financial

The AEX index ended 0.7% higher at 663.88 points. At the beginning of the afternoon, the stock market indicator reached the highest level since the end of 2000 at a level of 666.66 points. The AEX thus got the record of 703 points from September 2000 in sight. The AMX advanced 0.4% to 982.58 points.

“The atmosphere was good,” said wealth strategist Richard Abma (OHV). According to him, the British variant of the coronavirus is an uncertain factor in the short term. But he emphasizes that stock prices can go up further, now that the new president Joe Biden is going to stimulate the US economy strongly, the world economy will reopen this year and corporate earnings will normalize. “Shares are still not expensive,” said Abma.

The price signs in London (-0.3%), Paris (-0.4%) and Frankfurt (-0.1%) turned red. On Wall Street the Dow Jones index was almost flat at the end of the afternoon. Nasdaq tech exchange rose 0.6%. Wall Street set records on Wednesday evening when new president Biden took office. The good start to the US earnings season also contributed significantly to investor enthusiasm in the US. Streaming service Netflix in particular took off.

ECB decision

The ECB has the interest rate today left unchanged during the first policy meeting of the year. The central bank is ready to intervene if necessary. The bond purchase program was already expanded with the interest rate decision in December. At the time, ECB president Christine Lagarde considered it necessary to further support the eurozone economy in connection with the new lockdowns in many countries.

According to investment strategist Joost van Leenders (Kempen), the ECB today acted as expected. “Favorable financing conditions, a topic that was discussed throughout Lagarde’s press conference, is the ECB’s compass for now. This means that monetary policy will remain extremely flexible, ”he said. However, the bar for further additional easing measures appears to be high at the central bank, he says.

Takeaway at the top, Unibail at the bottom

In the AEX was Just Eat Takeaway the leader with a plus of 5.1%. The food delivery company is expected to benefit from the stricter corona measures. Last week, Just Eat Takeaway’s share price was still under pressure due to concerns about growing competition.

The chip funds also showed a cheerful picture. ASML, which was already 3% on the rise on Wednesday due to well-received quarterly results, gained a further 3.8%. aSMI posted a profit of 2.9%.

Chemicaliëndistributeur IMCD won 3,8%. Galapagos the recent rebound continued firmly after a boost from the United Kingdom. The British medicine watchdog has recommended the Galapagos drug filgotinib for the treatment of adults with rheumatism. The biotech group’s share price rose 2.3%.

Retail property fund Unibail (-8.4%) was the largest drop in the main funds. Stock market heavyweight Royal Dutch Shell (-2.4%) also traveled lower.

In de AMX blonk PostNL out with a price jump of 4.9%. The postal and parcel company has last year a record number of 337 million parcels and is counting on significant profit growth. Chip supplier Iron advanced 3.4%.

Real estate fund Eurocommercial (-5.2%) was the biggest loser among the medium-sized funds. Air France KLM went down 2.7%. The aviation company is suffering a lot from the tightened corona measures. At KLM 800 to 1000 jobs will disappear, in addition to the previously announced 5,000 jobs.

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