FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - After Friday's setback, the German stock market is likely to rise again at the start of the last full week before Christmas. About an hour before the start of trading, the X-Dax is signaling a gain of 0.4 percent to 24,294 points. This would confirm the Dax's upward trend of the past three weeks. Downward, all eyes remain on the 24,000-point mark, while upward, the focus is on October's record of 24,771 points.
In the new trading week, investors are likely to focus on the US labor market report, which will be released on Tuesday for October and November. Due to the weeks-long government shutdown, the US Federal Reserve had recently been in the dark about the situation on the job market. In addition to curbing inflation, full employment is the second key goal of the US monetary authorities.
From an industry perspective, the defense sector should once again be the focus of attention in view of the ongoing negotiations between the US and Ukraine. Diplomatic efforts to find a possible end to the war in Ukraine are continuing at the highest level in Berlin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the US delegation led by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff intend to continue their intensive talks.
On Sunday evening, after several hours of talks with the Ukrainian delegation at the Chancellery, the US side made a positive statement. "Much progress" had been made, Witkoff wrote. This weighed on German defense stocks in pre-market trading on Monday morning. On the Tradegate trading platform, shares in Renk, Hensoldt, and Rheinmetall recently recorded losses of between 1.4 and 2.4 percent.
Redcare Pharmacy shares fell by 0.4 percent on Tradegate. Market observers pointed to the drugstore chain dm's entry into the market for over-the-counter medicines, which can also be ordered online from dm, scheduled for Tuesday. According to the Handelsblatt newspaper, dm-med will offer around 2,500 non-prescription medicines and 1,000 skin care products. /edh/zb
