FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – The round mark of 25,000 points in the DAX wavered again on Monday. Customs concerns in the dispute over Greenland are to blame, which ruined the start of the week for investors on the German stock market. Because of the Greenland dispute, US President Donald Trump announced at the weekend that punitive tariffs of 10 percent would apply to eight European countries from February 1st, and tariffs of 25 percent from June 1st.
The German leading index DAX then fell by up to 1.5 percent to around 24,919 points in the first few minutes of trading. Recently, the minus decreased slightly to around 0.9 percent at 25,064 points. For the previous week overall, the Dax had only claimed a small plus, having meanwhile continued its record rally from the start of the year with a record of 25,507 points.
The MDAX of medium-sized stock exchange stocks was down 0.8 percent at 31,648 points on Monday, while the Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 lost 1.1 percent. He had also set records the previous week.
The US tariffs should apply until an agreement on the purchase of Greenland by the US is reached. Eight European NATO countries are affected by the tariffs, including Germany. EU Council President António Costa will now convene a special EU summit, possibly on Thursday.
“It’s still rhetoric. There are still two weeks left for negotiations,” commented portfolio manager Thomas Altmann from QC Partners. But there is a threat of an unprecedented spiral of tariffs, counter-tariffs and other measures. Unlike in previous cases, Altmann suspects that the European Union will probably not give in this time. In any case, the surge on the stock market is over for now, even if the setback initially remains manageable.
The risk of further import tariffs by the USA on imports from European NATO states is particularly affecting the prices of German automobile manufacturers. Shares in BMW, Volkswagen (Volkswagen (VW) vz) and Mercedes (Mercedes-Benz Group (ex Daimler)) all fell by more than three percent. Technology stocks were also weak.
However, Bayer made significant price gains of almost 8 percent against the weak market trend following good news from the USA. What investors have been hoping for since the beginning of December 2025 at the latest has happened: the US Supreme Court accepted the “Durnell” glyphosate case for review late on Friday evening. This increases the prospects of a landmark judgment in the long-lasting, stressful legal dispute over the weed killer.
At the beginning of December, the so-called Solicitor General – a kind of attorney general for the US government – supported the company’s request for the “Durnell” case to be examined by the US Supreme Court. At that time, the shares climbed above 35 euros for the first time since the beginning of 2024. Since then, they have expanded their recovery rally by a further 27 percent, and the bottom that has formed after years of price slides is becoming increasingly stable.
Geopolitical uncertainty is also helping arms stocks such as Rheinmetall, RENK and HENSOLDT, while the European auto sector temporarily fell to its lowest level since October 2025 due to customs concerns.
In the small cap sector, Gerresheimer recovered by up to 3.6 percent following a recommendation from the investment bank Oddo BHF. The chief financial officer of the special packaging manufacturer, Wolf Lehmann, signaled at an investor conference that some of the previous year’s stress factors had stabilized, wrote expert Oliver Metzger. The worst is probably over for the special packaging manufacturer. At the same time, the fundamental growth trend in the pharmaceutical sector remains fully intact./ag/jha/