The DAX opened the trading day on Monday with sharp losses. By 9:30 a.m. the benchmark was priced at about 24,715 points, down 2.3 % from Friday’s closing level. At the top of the most‑active list were shares of Rheinmetall and RWE, the only names trading in the green, while the bottom saw Deutsche Bank, Zalando and Siemens slide into the red.
Investors reacted primarily to the war in the Middle East. “The DAX starts the week without panic, even amid an unprecedented geopolitical escalation in one of the world’s most important oil‑producing regions” said Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at ConsorsBank. The Iran conflict offers a steep backdrop for a sharp correction, yet the sell‑off is unfolding in a disciplined, orderly fashion. “That is probably the key takeaway this Monday. We see a structured decline, but there is no panic‑driven sell‑off. Markets appear to assume a time‑limited conflict in their baseline scenario” Stanzl added.
At the same time the worst case for the global oil market has materialised: the possibility that Iran could weaponise oil and close the Strait of Hormuz. Stanzl noted that the feared price explosion has yet to materialise. “The oil price remains well below the $100 mark and has retreated from its daily high. Full inventories and a potential increase in OPEC+ production are helping to quell fears of a supply shortage” he said.
The euro was weaker on Monday morning: 1 EUR bought 1.1704 USD, whereas 1 USD bought 0.8544 EUR.
Meanwhile, the price of Brent crude jumped sharply. At 9:00 a.m. German time a barrel of North Sea‑grade Brent fetched $80.00, a rise of 9.8 % over the previous day’s close.