The DAX made up for higher losses at the start of Xetra trading premarket and is starting the new day with slight gains. Recently, the leading German index has further expanded its gains and is rising by around half a percent. The previous day it was almost 0.5 percent lighter at 25,864 points.
In addition to the results of the congressional elections in the USA, investors' focus today is on the progress of the company's reporting season. Several DAX members are opening their books.
In addition to the car manufacturer BMW, which lowered its forecast the evening before, the healthcare group Fresenius, the cement manufacturer Heidelberg Materials, the tire manufacturer Continental and the operator of Internet portals Scout 24 published new quarterly figures. There are also numerous new company reports from the MDAX and other European countries.
The Munich car manufacturer BMW is cutting its forecast again. The profit margin in the car business will be between minus 0.5 percent and 0.5 percent, the company announced after the stock market closed. It is the second time this year that BMW has lowered its forecast. Most recently, the people of Munich expected a return of one to three percent.
Heidelberg Materials and Continental are making significant profits according to their quarterly reports. The only construction company in the DAX spoke of accelerated growth dynamics in the third quarter. The share is at the top of the DAX in early trading.
Continental shares are also in demand. The company, now a pure tire manufacturer after completing the corporate restructuring, raised its profit forecast and returned to the black. This is also well received on the stock market.
Meanwhile, in the midterm elections in the USA, the opposition Democrats won both chambers of the US Parliament. Although the party was expected to win the House of Representatives, the forecasts for the Senate were not so clear. But it is now clear that the majority in the Senate will also change in favor of the Democrats.
Thomas Gitzel, chief economist at Liechtenstein's VP Bank, spoke of a blue tsunami in view of the Democrats' triumph. "The cause of the Republicans' electoral defeat was high inflation, but the construction of AI data centers is also increasingly causing frustration among large parts of the population." “Blue” is the color of the Democrats, “red” that of the Republicans.
In the USA there is now a threat of what Wall Street calls "gridlock" - political standstill. Because on one side there is the Republican US President Donald Trump and on the other there will be a Congress dominated by Democrats in the future. It is a bitter defeat for Trump personally, because he had turned the general election into a vote on his policies.
The prospect of surprising successes for the Democrats in the US midterm elections initially frightened Asian investors this morning and put the markets in the Far East under pressure. In Japan and South Korea in particular, things went downhill more significantly. In particular, price losses in shares from the artificial intelligence (AI) sector pushed the Japanese Nikkei index significantly into the red. At the end of trading, the index was able to limit its losses and ultimately closed 1.4 percent lower.
AI stocks suffered amid concerns that Democratic gains could lead to stricter rules on data center projects and curbs on infrastructure spending. "Democrats are gaining seats in some key states, which has fueled fears about stricter regulations on AI infrastructure investments," said Takamasa Ikeda, senior portfolio manager at GCI Asset Management.
The New York technology exchange Nasdaq's attempt at recovery was successful on Tuesday. In the end, however, the Nasdaq 100 selection index only claimed an increase of 0.7 percent to 28,180 points. This ended a three-day series of bitter losses.
The semiconductor stocks that are in demand again - including the industry giant Nvidia - outweighed the disappointing business statements from Apple and Palantir. The market-wide S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 7,568 points. In contrast, the Dow Jones, the leading index of standard stocks, fell by 0.4 percent to 51,786 points. The futures on the major US stock indices have all turned positive in the morning, signaling a positive Wall Street trend.
"In my view, any outcome that is in line with the prediction markets or the surveys at this point should be largely priced in," said Chun Wang, director of multi-asset strategies at asset manager Leuthold Group.
At least President Trump has acknowledged his election defeat - which wasn't necessarily a foregone conclusion in advance. But investors are wondering whether a weakened Donald Trump could possibly tighten the pace against Iran again - which will cause new tensions on the oil market. The president has not yet made a decision.
The price of oil itself hardly reacts to the election. A barrel of North Sea Brent recently cost just over $103, almost as much as the evening before.
