The fear of a trade war triggered a price slide on Monday at the German stock market and suddenly ended the latest record hunt for the DAX. The German leading index dropped vigorously in the morning and recently noted around 2 percent weaker with 21,299 points. On Friday he had reached a record high with a good 21,800 points. The reason for the setback were far -reaching tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, the US President Donald Trump (78) imposed on weekends. Car values in particular suffered very much.
Trump’s decisions were also noticeable in the second German stock market series and throughout Europe: While the MDAX slipped by 2.09 percent to 26,173 points, the Eurozone-Leitindex EuroStoxx lost about 1.6 percent.
The financial markets are concerned that the tariffs heat inflation again in the USA and to dissolve interest -cut hopes. “The increase in inflation in the United States that arises from these tariffs and other future measures will be even faster and stronger than we originally expected,” said Paul Asshworth, chief economist North America at the analysis house capital economics.
According to the UBS experts, investors should prepare for an increased uncertainty. However, they assume in their base scenario that the tariffs will not be maintained over a longer period of time, since the Trump government should neither endanger US economic growth nor risk higher inflation. They rather believe in a tactical move to achieve a renegotiation of a free trade agreement.
Automotive industry under pressure, armaments shares asked
Trump’s trade war works to Germany. The German auto industry is likely to feel the effects because there are important works of Volkswagen in Mexico, for example. The carmaker’s shares therefore became the DAX final with a price slide by 5.4 percent. In the case of further industry values such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW or the commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck, the price losses were also at least 3.2 percent.
The shares of Porsche AG could also not escape the downward pressure. In addition to the customs worries, investors must also have one with the sports car manufacturer Process planned board of directors. The VW subsidiary wants to get rid of two top managers with CFO Lutz Meschke and sales board Detlev von Platen. Experts saw this the chance of a new beginning after a last dreary development, but the US customs situation predominated in the investment heads.
Positive exceptions were rare on the German stock market. Rheinmetall continued against the trend due to the armaments fantasy with an increase of 1.5 percent. The topic of armor was generally present, because Hensoldt and Renk were also one of the exceptions with a price increase on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
The euro has fallen to the lowest level since November 2022
The euro has started the week out of concern for an escalating trade dispute between the USA and other countries. The course dropped to $ 1.0141 on Monday night and thus the lowest level since November 2022. In the end, the euro was able to recover a little, but still cost a cent less with $ 1.0245 than on Friday evening. The euro has been under pressure since Donald Trump’s election as the new US president in early November. Before that, the euro cost more than $ 1.09.
Losses also in the USA
Confirmation of the introduction of first US import tariffs gave the New York stock markets a damper on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial had shared early after he had targeted his almost two months old record high at the beginning. In the end, he lost 0.75 percent to 44,544 points.
On a weekly perspective, the leading index claimed a profit of 0.3 percent and an increase of 4.7 percent for the January that ended. The White House denied a press report on Friday, according to which tariffs should not be introduced until the beginning of March. The tariffs were then introduced at the weekend.
Cryptocurrencies break in
Sometimes there were clear losses on Monday for cryptocurrencies. The oldest and best -known cryptocurrency Bitcoin kept up comparatively well. A Bitcoin recently cost a good $ 95,000 on the Bitstamp trading platform – on Friday it was still $ 105,000 at times. The minus was significantly higher at Ethereum. The course of the second largest cryptocurrency dropped by a quarter to less than $ 2500.
Put oil prices too
Out of fear of impairments in US era imports, investors cover themselves with this energy source. The Brent variety from the North Sea is more expensive to $ 77.34 per barrel and the US variety WTI by 3.7 percent to $ 75.18. The trigger of this rally is also the announced US protection tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, which include important oil suppliers of the United States. The tariffs could have a counterproductive effect on Trump’s goal of pressing energy prices, warns analyst Amarpreet Singh from Barclays Bank.