The US President is distributing carrots and sticks to the European Union, following his typical negotiation pattern. Shortly after tough announcements of 50 percent tariffs, the US President again opened up possibilities for concluding a deal. The result was a renewed friendly German leading index, which rose by another 1.7 percent to over 24,000 points on Memorial Day (US stock markets closed). The closing price was precisely 24,027.65 points.
After the DAX had already jumped over 24,000 points at the opening and US exchanges remained closed, it was a very quiet trading day to start the week. It is clearly noticeable that investors and traders struggle to give the market a clear direction without impulses from the US.
Rheinmetall, Siemens, and Heidelberg Materials lead the DAX
Among individual stocks, Rheinmetall again climbed to the top of the DAX with a price increase of 3.3 percent. Siemens AG's stock came very close to this performance, rising by 3 percentage points. Close behind in third place was Heidelberg Materials' stock with a price gain of 2.8 percent.
For today, the development of the tariff dispute between the USA and the EU will be crucial. The EU, for its part, has already prepared a package to counter the tariffs. Should the situation escalate further, increased volatility is to be expected in the stock markets. If the situation, however, de-escalates, new record highs are probably not out of reach, with all due caution.
Lagarde's Intention: A strong Euro against US tariff policy
The Euro is currently benefiting from this situation, as US tariff policy negatively impacts the US Dollar. The Euro is already just under 1.14 US Dollars again and has a good chance of climbing further towards 1.15 US Dollars. ECB President Lagarde announced her intention to target a strong Euro in response to the tariff policy.
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