Market report: DAX falls slightly behind

There is a lot going on on the stock market, which initially caused investors to take cover. At times, the DAX wiped out its gains from Monday. However, it then went out of trading with a more moderate loss of just 0.45 percent at 25,864 points.

At the beginning of the week, the leading index had gained 0.6 percent to 25,981 points.

In the morning, the situation in the Persian Gulf came into focus again: the US military attacked Iranian targets again. But this only boosted oil prices temporarily.

The topic of the day is the midterm elections in the United States. This is where it will be decided whether the Democrats can wrest control of Congress from President Donald Trump's Republican Party. Polls suggest Democrats will win the House of Representatives, while the outcome in the Senate is more unclear.

Many investors fear that the USA is planning a major attack on Iran after the elections, with dire consequences for the raw materials market and the global economy. However, Trump recently answered "no" when asked by reporters whether he was considering a post-election attack. He also believes that Iran wants to reach an agreement and that such an agreement “could come about.”

On the New York stock exchanges, price gains predominated in early business on election day. While the Dow Jones standard values ​​fell slightly, the Nasdaq showed a positive trend despite Apple's disappointing outlook.

When the tech giant presented its figures last night, investors saw light and shadow. iPhone sales and total group revenues reached record levels for a September quarter. The bottom line was that more than $30 billion was left hanging. But what is traded on the stock market is primarily expectations for the future: investors reacted with disappointment to the forecast for the current quarter. This also weighed on technology stocks in Germany.

The strongest DAX stock was Bayer. The pharmaceutical division is driving growth for the Leverkusen-based company. Group sales climbed by a good four percent to over ten billion euros. The bottom line is that Bayer recorded a loss of around 670 million. A year ago the loss was almost one billion euros. The group increased its annual targets.

Fresenius Medical Care shares initially clearly fell after the decline in profits in the third quarter, but were able to temporarily recover. Analysts remained skeptical. Richard Felton from Goldman Sachs emphasized that the dialysis company's now more precise annual outlook would mean a massive downturn in operating earnings (EBIT) in the fourth quarter.

At the end of the DAX, Zalando shares were down over five percent. Analysts criticized the gross margin in the past quarter. In addition, the shares performed well in October.

Amid sharply rising fuel costs, Lufthansa earned more than expected. Thanks to increased ticket prices and a booming freight business, profits rose to 1.3 billion euros. That's 30 percent more than a year before. However, the board again dampened the profit forecast for 2026. The operating result adjusted for special items (adjusted EBIT) should only reach 1.7 to 2.0 billion euros instead of 1.7 to 2.2 billion euros.