The DAX 40 closed about 0.4% lower at 26,339 on Monday, surrendering the previous session’s gains, though it remains near record highs. Heightened tensions in the Middle East weighed on sentiment and offset growing investor optimism around artificial intelligence. The 60-day truce between Washington and Tehran expires today, with the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz persisting and rhetoric intensifying on both sides.
At the same time, investors continued to recalibrate their expectations for US interest rates after a run of weaker-than-forecast economic data. Selling pressure was broad-based across several sectors, with retailers and automakers particularly weak, while technology and financial shares helped cushion the overall decline.
Among individual names, Zalando, Adidas, Scout24, Beiersdorf, Henkel, and Symrise were the largest losers, falling between 1.9% and 3.4%. On the upside, Deutsche Börse gained 1.8%, Rheinmetall 1.3%, Siemens Energy 1.1%, and Infineon Technologies 0.9%, emerging as the session’s top performers.