On Tuesday morning the DAX slipped into trading. At about 9:30 a.m. the index was around 24,935 points, roughly 0.2 percent below the previous day’s close.
“And investors are struggling to get a clear picture of the overall market environment” said Andreas Lipkow, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. “This uncertainty is driving cautious, defensive positioning. In addition to familiar issues such as the US‑Iran tension, the US‑China customs dispute and macro‑economic developments, there is growing worry about the potentially disruptive impact of artificial‑intelligence technology across certain sectors”.
He noted that yesterday in New York, multiple software and cybersecurity firms experienced sharp sell‑offs. Investors can’t yet gauge how large the operational impact will be or what profit declines might follow, keeping the theme a persistent drag on what has been one of the bull market’s support pillars on Wall Street.
In Asia, the focus after the holiday was on trading activity in Japan and China. Despite the outflows, investors there remained calm, giving their indices gains. However, the momentum is likely to translate only modestly into European markets, given Europe’s heavier reliance on US financial markets.
After declines in cyclical automotive stocks, value‑seeking traders selectively bought shares of VW, Mercedes‑Benz and BMW. Lipkow added that Fresenius Medical Care’s numbers were underwhelming, leading to a price drop. While savings exceeded analyst expectations, the outlook remained restrained.
The euro edged higher on Tuesday morning: one euro was worth 1.1790 USD, meaning one USD bought 0.8482 EUR.
Gold fell sharply in the morning, trading at $5,172 per troy ounce-a drop of 1.1 percent-equivalent to €141.04 per gram.
Meanwhile Brent crude rose; a barrel of the North Sea Brent grade fetched $71.49 at 9 a.m. German time, up 0.38 USD or 0.5 percent from the previous day’s close.