Frankfurt's DAX 40 fell more than 1% to around 23,300 on Friday, marking a third consecutive session of losses, as investors remained wary of the potential fallout from the conflict in the Middle East. President Trump’s increasingly confrontational stance toward Iran, coupled with Tehran’s vow to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, continued to stoke inflation fears and bolster expectations of imminent interest rate hikes.
Losses were broad-based, with nearly all sectors trading in negative territory, led by consumer cyclicals, banks, and industrials. Among individual stocks, Siemens Energy (-2.9%), Daimler Truck (-2.6%), Adidas (-2.5%), Henkel (-2.5%), Deutsche Post (-2.3%), and Commerzbank (-2.1%) recorded some of the steepest declines.
In contrast, Zalando advanced 5.5% after Bernstein upgraded the stock from “underperform” to “market perform” and raised its price target to EUR 25.00 from EUR 23.00. The move was supported by Thursday’s share buyback announcement, a new e-commerce partnership with Levi Strauss, and an upbeat outlook for 2026.
For the week, the DAX 40 is on track to lose about 1.1%.