The topic of stocks occupies the Germans like never before.

The conversations in the café increasingly revolve around developments on the stock markets and alleged insider tips.

The figures for the past year are clear: German savers invested more in shares than ever before, to which the European Central Bank (ECB) also made a significant contribution with its negative interest rates.

ECB President Christine Lagarde is now cautiously approaching a change of course in monetary policy.

High inflation leaves her no other choice.

Markus Fruehauf

Editor in Business.

  • Follow I follow

The American Federal Reserve is already further along, it wants to end its bond purchases in March and has also announced an interest rate hike.

This change of course towards higher interest rates has also caused the yield on the ten-year federal bond to rise from negative territory to 0.2 percent.

Higher interest rates are poison for stocks bought solely for their growth prospects.

This includes tech companies, which typically operate with high leverage.

The fall in the share price of the Facebook group Meta is mainly due to the fact that the earnings opportunities in the Internet universe are reaching their limits.

In addition, the meta price slump also illustrates a change in course for the stock market favorites.

The trend is back towards established companies whose price fluctuations investors are willing to accept because of their stable dividend payments.

Such titles were formerly known as "Widow's and Orphan's Papers".

In the Dax, these include the titles of the two Munich insurance groups Allianz and Munich Re, the software group SAP or Deutsche Post and Deutsche Telekom, which benefit from consistently high cash flows.

Bank stocks are winners of the turnaround in interest rates

If you look at the DAX winners in the young year, the title of Deutsche Bank stands out with a plus of 22 percent.

The banks are seen as the winners of the turnaround in interest rates because their earning potential is improving.

This can also be seen in the Commerzbank share, which has increased by 28 percent since the beginning of the year.

There is a change of course on the financial markets.

This is not necessarily the time for insider tips.

Instead, investors should also embrace stocks that have been considered boring for the past few years.