At the start of the week the DAX fell, settling at 24,801 points – a 0.5 % drop – by the end of Xetra trading. Although U.S. exchanges were closed for a holiday, the open futures market in New York still signaled further declines. Andreas Lipkow of CMC Markets noted that the brief recovery on Friday ended up being a “straw fire” at the beginning of the week, steering the DAX later that afternoon in a direction it had otherwise been largely indecisive about. Consequently the index slipped back below the 25,000‑point level, adding another dent for investors already on the defensive.
Overall, the holidays in the United States and Asia contributed to thin trading in Frankfurt today. Potential catalysts from macro data or corporate news were scarce. Cyclical names such as Heidelberg Materials attracted some attention, and the financial sector returned to investors’ focus after a long dry spell. Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank posted gains, while the heavyweight Siemens pulled the DAX down, as profit taking continued after its recent impressive earnings announcement.
Artificial‐intelligence sentiment remained a clear influence despite limited trading volume. Shares of smaller financial service firms like FlatexDEGIRO fell amid fears of a disruptive wave in asset management. The anxiety about potentially massive changes in various economic sectors shifts week to week into new segments; after software, logistics and financial services have been the latest targets. Yet there are winners in the AI space – German companies such as Siemens, Siemens Energy, Hochtief, and Heidelberger Materials – that can benefit from full order books.
In currency markets the euro was slightly weaker in the afternoon, trading at 1.1854 U.S. dollars per euro, while one dollar equalled 0.8436 euros. Gold prices slipped noticeably, with a fine ounce fetched $4,988 a piece – a 1.1 % drop – translating to €135.29 per gram. Oil climbed sharply; Brent crude rose to $68.47 per barrel around 5 p.m. German time, 72 cents or 1.1 % higher than the previous day’s closing price.
