The DAX began trading on Monday with slight gains. Around 9:30 a.m., the leading index was calculated at approximately 24,735 points, marking a 0.3 percent increase over Friday’s closing level. Infineon, RWE, and SAP topped the list of rising stocks, while Volkswagen, BMW, and Airbus were among the weakest.
Jochen Stanzl, Chief Market Analyst at Consorsbank, noted that while the DAX has a solid start to the new week, the fragile truce between the US and Iran continues to weigh on market sentiment. Although both parties are expected to return to the negotiating table this week, the mutual attacks that occurred over the weekend serve as a reminder that the path to resolution is likely to be fraught with setbacks.
Stanzl added that investors are currently assuming the conflict between the US and Iran will remain limited, with no threat of further military escalation. He suggested that absent another escalation, the Iran conflict will increasingly move to the background of the markets, partly because sea traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is gradually normalizing.
Meanwhile, attention among investors has returned to monetary policy ahead of the central bank meeting in Sintra, Portugal. The analyst stated that investors are eager to know whether Kevin Warsh, the new chair of the US central bank, intends to pursue the conservative monetary policy hinted at during his first meeting. Since inflation has risen less sharply than feared recently, and the oil price has fallen by an additional seven percent since the last Fed meeting, there is a good possibility that Warsh might soften his rhetoric regarding further interest rate hikes in Sintra.
The European common currency was stronger on Monday morning: the Euro was trading at $1.1408 against the US Dollar, meaning the Dollar could be obtained for 0.8766 Euros.
The oil price also saw an uptick. At around 9 a.m. German time, a barrel of North Sea Brent crude was priced at $72.28, which represented an increase of 29 cents, or 0.4 percent, compared to the previous day’s close.
