Germany’s DAX: Insight Into Europe’s Leading Economy
by ilene - September 17th, 2009 1:27 pm
Note: Our friends at Elliott Wave International have announced the beginning of their "FreeWeek event, where they throw open the doors to some of their most popular paid services to non-subscribers for one week." This time, they’re offering complete access to The Asian-Pacific Short Term Update and The European Short Term Update. – Ilene
FreeWeek Kicks Off With Germany: Click HERE to sign on and get invaluable insight into Europe’s #1 market.
Germany’s DAX: FREE Insight Into Europe’s Leading Economy
Courtesy of Elliott Wave International
It’s one of the first rules in the book of mainstream economic wisdom: a country’s economy is the thermometer which "reads" its stock market’s temperature. If financial conditions are heating up, stocks rise; if they are cooling down, stocks fall. Were it so simple — millionaires wouldn’t make up a measly .15% of the global population.
Obviously, there’s a major flaw with this logic; namely, it isn’t true. Time and again, stock prices smolder to near boiling even as economic growth chills to the bone. (The opposite also holds: Stock prices cool down even as the economy is on fire.)
Take, for instance, Germany’s main stock index, the DAX 30. On August 13, Europe’s number one economy reported a .3% rise in gross domestic product (GDP) — Germany’s first quarter of growth since January 2008. Soon after, the DAX began to rally and finished the day at a fresh, ten-month high.
In no time at all, every financial media outlet from Wall Street to la-la land had their story: "Germany’s DAX rose nearly 1% on the GDP data. The big picture will be one of ongoing gradual recovery through 2010." (LA Times)
One problem: the DAX’s bullish flame has been burning since the index landed at a two-year low on March 9, 2009. YET — the economic data over those six months has been about as "hot" as the Arctic Circle. Here, the following news stories from the time say plenty:
- March 24, Wall Street Journal: "There’s a slew of evidence that Germany is in an economic freefall: A 19% drop in industrial output, a 23% decline in exports, a 35% drop in new manufacturing orders, and on. The numbers we’re seeing are just mind-boggling."
- April 30, New York Times reveals a 17% year-over-year decline in Germany’s exports and writes, "With 47% of its GDP generated by


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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
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