The German DAX opened the trading day on Friday with a cautious stance. At about 9:30 a.m. the index was calculated at roughly 24,828 points, a drop of 0.1 % from the previous close. MTU and Scout 24 were the strongest performers, while Siemens stock trailed at the bottom of the chart.
Andreas Lipkow, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said that the DAX is presently being shaped by the U.S. consumer‑price data expected later that afternoon. “In addition to fears of a cooling U.S. economy, investors will scrutinise the price data closely. Lately, U.S. inflation has firmed above the 2‑percent target zone, narrowing the Fed’s room for rate cuts and potentially triggering another drop in consumer spending” Lipkow explained.
He added that yesterday’s weak U.S. labour‑market figures and existing home‑sale data point to a visible slowdown in the U.S. economy. “The housing‑market figures even hit a multi‑year low. Moreover, concerns about disruptive AI impacts in the software sector-and more recently in finance-are weighing on many financial‑ and banking‑stock prices” the analyst noted. “Although the selling pressure from Wall Street has only partially spilled over into Asian markets, stocks in China and Japan also experienced downward pressure and closed with losses”.
The euro was a bit weaker in the morning: one euro bought 1.1859 U.S. dollars, meaning one U.S. dollar was worth 0.8432 euros.
Brent crude oil ticked lower in the same session. About 9 a.m. German time, a barrel of North Sea Brent cost 67.47 U.S. dollars-five cents, or 0.1 %, less than the close on the previous trading day.
