“Mixed Trends in European and US Stock Markets: Germany in Recession, US Debt Ceiling Concerns”

European and US stock markets showed mixed trends on Thursday.

Prices on major European stock exchanges mostly fell as investors reacted to data that Germany’s gross domestic product fell by 0.3% in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous three months, thus putting the country’s economy into recession.

Both in the US and elsewhere in the world, market participants continued to worry about the inability of Republicans and Democrats to agree on raising the US national debt ceiling. The anxiety was increased by the announcement of the rating agency “Fitch” that the US’s highest level – “AAA” – credit rating is therefore at risk. If the debt ceiling is not raised by June 1, the US is at risk of default.

The US stock index “Dow Jones Industrial Average” decreased by 0.1% to 32,764.65 points on Thursday, the “Standard & Poor”s 500” index rose by 0.9% to 4,151.28 points, and the “Nasdaq Composite” index increased by 1.7% to 12,698.09 points.

London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.7% to 7,570.87 on Thursday, Frankfurt’s DAX fell 0.3% to 15,793.80 and Paris’ CAC 40 fell 0.3% to 7,229. 27 points.

In electronic trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the price of WTI crude oil fell 3.4% to $71.83 a barrel on Thursday. “Brent” crude oil price on the London exchange fell by 2.7% to 76.26 dollars per barrel.

On the Dutch exchange “Title Transfer Facility” (TTF), the price of natural gas decreased by 8.4% to 25.45 euros per megawatt hour on Thursday.

The euro was down from $1.0750 to $1.0727 per euro on Thursday, the British pound was down from $1.2365 to $1.2321 per pound, and the dollar was up against the Japanese yen from 139.47 to 140.09 yen per dollar. The euro rose against the British pound from 86.94 pence to 87.04 pence per euro.