FRANKFURT, March 7, 2026, 07:43 CET
Germany’s DAX dropped to 23,591.03 Friday, marking a 6.7% slide from last week’s 25,284 close—a loss not seen in about a year. The STOXX 600 shed 5.5%, while Frankfurt and Paris both logged their steepest weekly falls since April last year.
This shift is significant—investors are juggling weaker growth signals with rising energy costs. February’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls dropped by 92,000, missing forecasts for a 59,000 gain. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%. Brent crude finished at $92.69, after briefly hitting its highest mark since September 2023.
Germany feels it sharply. Exporters dominate the DAX, which slipped to a three-month low on Tuesday. Investors are staring down the chance of a drawn-out Middle East conflict and what pricier oil could mean for inflation.
Company headlines didn’t help the early-week selloff. Shares in Beiersdorf, the Nivea parent, tumbled over 12% after the group flagged that its 2026 core operating margin will slip just below 2025 levels, squeezed by higher raw materials and currency shifts.
The DAX clawed back 1.7% on Wednesday—marking its strongest single-day jump since May—after a New York Times piece flagged a possible shift from Iranian intelligence operatives, who appeared willing to negotiate. “The merest whiff” of a resolution lured buyers in, XTB’s Kathleen Brooks pointed out. Reuters
The bounce faded fast. The STOXX 600 ended down 1.3% on Thursday, with industrials tied to exports dragging the index lower. Siemens Energy dropped roughly 6%. AJ Bell’s Danni Hewson pointed out that hopes for a quick end to the conflict are fading, pushing markets to reconsider their rate expectations.
More trouble for German stocks: Adidas slumped over 7%. The company projected 2026 operating profit at 2.3 billion euros, missing what analysts were hoping for. U.S. tariffs, currency pressure from a soft dollar, and conflict in the Middle East all weighed on that forecast.
Defense names kept grabbing attention despite the volatility. Rheinmetall on Friday pointed to the Iran war as proof it should push ahead with missile production growth in Germany and Spain.
STOXX, the index arm of Deutsche Börse, said the DAX and TecDAX will stay as they are after the March quarterly review. The MDAX and SDAX, though, will see changes starting March 23.
The concern now: oil’s surge could shift from a brief shock to something closer to a drawn-out squeeze. Options and futures markets are still pricing in a short-lived hit—former Goldman Sachs energy specialist Brian E. Kinsella puts it this way: “the market is betting it’s logistical.” But with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz still limited, the White House is already pressing agencies for tougher measures to rein in energy prices if these constraints drag on. Reuters
