30 a..m., a hair below yesterday’s close. The top of the daily order book was led by FMC, Airbus and Porsche Holding, while Bayer, Zalando and Infineon sat in the lower ranks.
Consorsbank’s chief market analyst, Jochen Stanzl, noted that the swift readiness for immediate profit‑taking after a single strong day indicates a heavy participation of short‑term traders. He added that the possibility of a sudden U.S. attack on Iran is currently preventing a rampant rally in the DAX. The rise in oil prices is a caution to investors not to overexpose risk before the weekend.
According to Stanzl, oil markets have begun pricing in a growing risk of a military conflict between the United States and Iran. The focus is less on actual Iranian production and more on the potential blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20 million barrels of oil per day-roughly a fifth of global demand-and is the main route for LNG to Europe. He warned that this risk is especially problematic for European LNG supply at a time when storage levels are already low. “Low gas reserves leave little room for additional stress” Stanzl said. “European gas prices could therefore react more sharply than the oil price, whose global inventories are, on the whole, above average”.
The euro slipped slightly in the early session, trading at 1.1756 U.S. dollars per euro, while the dollar exchanged for 0.8506 euros. Meanwhile, Brent crude dipped modestly: a barrel of North Sea grade sold around 9 a.m. German time for $71.63, a 3‑cent (about 0.0 %) decline from the previous close.
