The DAX began trading on Tuesday in decline. Around 9:30 a.m., the benchmark index was calculated at approximately 24,995 points, which represents a drop of 0.5 percent from the previous day’s closing level. The top performers on the list included Brenntag, BASF, and Mercedes-Benz, while Scout24, Adidas, and Henkel were among the bottom stocks.
Jochen Stanzl, Chief Market Analyst at Consorsbank, attributed the market mood to mounting concerns about interest rates and inflation, citing rising energy prices and setbacks in the peace process between the Iran and the United States. The recent exchange of attacks between the US and Iran is dampening hopes that the peace negotiations can quickly return to normal channels. He also noted that growing geopolitical risks are fueling uncertainty over whether the massive sums being invested in AI will yield the expected return.
Stanzl added that the DAX is currently barely able to defend the 25,000-point barrier. He cautioned that a slide below this round mark could accelerate the market correction. However, he maintained that the current move appears to be an orderly correction rather than a major sell-off, as investors are aware of the volatility surrounding the Iran conflict and are still considering a sudden resumption of talks despite the mutual attacks.
Attention is largely focused on US inflation data later in the afternoon. Stanzl stated that the American central bank had recently signaled the potential need for an interest rate hike to curb latent inflationary risks. He believes that few investors consider another rate increase by the US central bank to be impossible, giving the chance of such a hike happening this month a 50-50 outlook.
In other financial sectors, the European common currency showed slight strength in the morning; a Euro was trading at $1.1393, meaning a dollar cost 0.8777 Euro. Meanwhile, the price of oil rose significantly. A barrel of Brent crude available in the North Sea cost $85.47 against the German time clock around 9 a.m., marking a 2.6 percent increase from the close of the previous trading session.
