Repetition
DOW JONES–The German stock market closed with a premium on Tuesday. The DAX rose by 0.6 percent to 24,490 points. On the last trading day of the year there was little news and most investors were no longer active so close to the turn of the year. When sales were thin, so-called window dressing for individual stocks, i.e. targeted price maintenance in the portfolios of institutional investors, may have provided support. The German stock market only traded until 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
The geopolitical situation remains tense. US President Donald Trump has threatened Iran with a military strike if the country resumes its nuclear program. Meanwhile, Hamas was threatened with serious consequences if the terrorist organization did not lay down its arms. And finally, China is holding one of the largest military exercises in recent years off the coast of Taiwan. This is likely to be a reaction to the recent announcement of US arms deliveries to the island nation.
In addition, the US recently carried out an attack on a port area in Venezuela where US President Trump said drugs were being loaded onto boats and smuggled across international waters, claiming that a “large explosion” had occurred. In this environment, defense stocks were in demand on Tuesday. Rheinmetall gained 2.3 percent, Renk 2.3 percent and Hensoldt 1.2 percent.
“A closer look shows (…) that only the first half of the year was excellent for the DAX. The second half of the year was more of a sideways trend,” said asset manager QC Partners. Over the year, the DAX increased by 23 percent and the MDAX by 19 percent. However, the TecDAX only achieved a meager return of 6 percent. This continued the series of blue chips from Germany doing better with their international business than German medium-sized companies. It remains to be seen whether this will change with the billion-dollar investment program in Germany next year.
The price slide in April turned out to be a buying opportunity in the past stock market year. On “Liberation Day” US President Donald Trump announced punitive tariffs worldwide – tariffs that stock market traders had not believed in until then. Since then, the topic has lost some of its explosiveness. Not only has the USA reached trade agreements with most countries, Washington had to learn the hard way that China has the upper hand in the trade dispute. Beijing contrasted export restrictions on the latest generation of AI chips with export restrictions for rare earths.
The top performers of the year were Rheinmetall with an increase of 154 percent. With the war in Ukraine and the second presidency of US President Trump, new times have dawned for Europe. The old continent will have to rely much more on itself in defense matters in the future, and that will cost a lot of money. The defense sector is one of the big winners from this development. Hensoldt rose by 113 percent in 2025, Renk by 192 percent.
Although Germany only plays a minor role in the global AI race, it is important as an AI supplier. Training Chat GPT & Co requires gigantic server parks that consume huge amounts of energy and water. Infrastructure companies such as Siemens Energy benefit from this – the paper achieved an increase of 139 percent.
Bank securities continued to have a good run. The main reason for this was the sharp rise in yields on the bond markets, despite lower key interest rates. Deutsche Bank won 99 percent in 2025. Commerzbank shares even rose by 130 percent, also supported by ongoing speculation about a complete takeover by Unicredit.
Bayer experienced a comeback in 2025 with markups of 89 percent. The hope of an end to the years-long glyphosate dispute gave the shares wings. The US government is pushing for the case to be heard directly by the Supreme Court. Bayer is of the opinion that lawsuits in individual states should not undermine the approval of the pesticide by the US federal agency EPA. The Supreme Court has a reputation for being more business-friendly.
Consumer stocks were among the big losers in 2025. The sector suffered, on the one hand, from weak consumer spending due to high inflation and, on the other hand, from the weakness of business in China. Adidas lost 29 percent, Zalando 22 percent, Beiersdorf 25 percent. The shares of the fragrance and aroma manufacturer Symrise even fell by 33 percent. In addition to the slump in consumption, the high cost pressure was a burden here.
Real estate values also did not have a good year. While the high level of returns on the bond markets helped bank stocks to rise sharply, the opposite was the case for real estate stocks. Over the year, Vonovia lost 17 percent and LEG Immobilien lost 24 percent.
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INDEX last +/- % +/- % YTD
DAX 24,490.41 +0.6% +22.3%
DAX future 24,669.00 +0.6% +19.3%
XDAX 24,509.90 +0.6% +22.8%
MDAX 30,617.67 +0.5% +19.0%
TecDAX 3,622.27 +0.6% +5.3%
SDAX 17,174.73 +0.9% +24.1%
last +/- ticks
Bund future 127.55% -25
YTD – based on the previous day’s closing price
Index Winner Loser Unv. Sales Shares Sales previous day Shares previous day
DAX 33 7 0 1,568.8 23.2 2,343.9 35.4
MDAX 42 7 1,267.5 11.5 422.5 19.7
TecDAX 19 10 1 371.4 8.6 510.0 12.6
SDAX 50 15 5 73.2 6.6 110.0 8.7
Sales in millions of euros or units
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DJG/mpt/flf
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 30, 2025 09:21 ET (14:21 GMT)