On Tuesday the DAX finished the trading day at 23,731 points, up 0.7 % from the day before. Andreas Lipkow of CMC Markets said that whether investors will stay heavily invested in European stocks after Friday’s sharp sell‑off depends largely on the outlook for the euro‑zone economy in the coming quarters. He highlighted that the March ZEW business expectations unexpectedly fell from 60 to -0.5, well below the market’s forecast of +39.2 points over the ticker. This drop reflects the financial‑market experts’ growing scepticism amid high geopolitical and economic uncertainty, and the modest improvement in the current assessment is not seen as a bright spot – the market had anticipated steeper gains.
Lipkow added that defensive sectors likely drove demand in the DAX that day. The leaders at the top of the price‑list included Hannover‑based and Munich‑based reinsurers, as well as shares of E.ON, Siemens Energy, RWE, Merck and Brenntag. Stocks such as Beiersdorf and Fresenius were among those pushed lower.
In the exchange market the euro strengthened: one euro fetched 1.1528 US dollars, while one US dollar traded at 0.8675 euros. The price of Brent crude also rose sharply, reaching US $102.10 per barrel at 17:00 CET – a 1.9 % increase from the previous day’s close.