The Dax started the trading day on Monday with a gain. By 9:30 am, the leading index was calculated at around 21,861 points, a 0.3% increase from the previous day’s close. Siemens Energy and Vonovia papers took the top spots in the stock list, while Qiagen shares saw the steepest declines.
“It was to be expected: The US is announcing another safeguard tariff package against steel and aluminum imports to the US” commented market analyst Andreas Lipkow. “This measure is not specifically targeted at a country, but it makes clear that trade protectionism is being further pushed forward.”
The German economy would be only partially affected, as Germany’s steel production played a minor international role, Lipkow said. “It’s countries like India, Taiwan and South Korea that export up to 5% of their steel output to the US” he stated. “However, the impacts will also come closer for the euro and some sectors and branches should be preparing themselves already.”
The European Common Currency was slightly stronger on Monday morning: one euro was worth 1.0312 US dollars and one US dollar was worth 0.9697 euros.
Oil prices also rose: a barrel of North Sea Brent crude cost around 75.14 US dollars at 9 am German time, a 48-cent or 0.6% increase from the previous day’s close.