Stock market: Dax heading towards negative weekly balance

The German stock market is poised for a slightly negative end to the week. The DAX fell by 0.4 percent to 23,845 points in the first minutes of trading on Friday. This suggests a weekly loss of around 0.8 percent for the DAX.

The MDax , the index of mid-cap companies, fell 0.6 percent to 30,210 points on Friday morning. The Eurozone's leading index, the EuroStoxx 50, lost 0.6 percent.

The record highs of the Nasdaq indices in the US the previous evening roughly coincided with the end of European trading. There was no further momentum, and this Friday the stock exchanges across the Atlantic are closed for Independence Day.

Meanwhile, the window of opportunity for a tariff deal between the EU and the US is narrowing. US President Donald Trump (79) wants to impose additional tariffs of 50 percent starting July 9 if the Europeans do not accommodate him on trade issues.

From a corporate perspective, news is still relatively thin. The automotive and industrial supplier Stabilus has found a new CFO in its search. Andreas Jaeger , the current CFO of Forbo Holding, will assume the position effective November 1, Stabilus announced. With this appointment, the company fills the gap created by the departure of its previous CFO, Stefan Baurreis , in February.

Rheinmetall shares could attract investor interest. US bank JPMorgan has raised its price target for the stock from €2,100 to €2,250. This represents an upside potential of approximately one-third, making JPM one of the most optimistic analyst firms for the defense stock. Expert David Perry also raised his earnings estimates through 2030 by up to 21 percent and named Rheinmetall his top pick among Europe's major defense producers.

Shares of Jungheinrich and DWS might also be worth a look. The analyst firm Exane BNP downgraded the forklift manufacturer's shares to "neutral" and lowered the rating for the Deutsche Bank fund subsidiary to "underperform."

Buoyed by a strong jobs report, the US stock markets continued their record-breaking run on Thursday. The broader S&P 500 and the Nasdaq technology exchange index temporarily reached new highs. The indices closed 0.8 percent higher at 6,279 and one percent higher at 20,601 points, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8 percent to 44,828 points. Trading ended early ahead of the holiday on Friday, US Independence Day.

The US job creation of 147,000 in June was significantly higher than the 110,000 new jobs economists expected. The separately calculated unemployment rate also unexpectedly fell to 4.1 percent. The report was released a day early because of the Fourth of July. "We all expected the hard data to start showing cracks, but that's not the case, because the jobs report came in much better than expected," said Brian Klimke , chief market strategist at Cetera Investment Management. "This just forces the Fed to pause and gives them more time to wait and see right now, as the labor market is really resilient."

Oil prices fell slightly again on Thursday. A barrel (159 liters) of Brent crude from the North Sea for delivery in September cost $68.84, down 29 cents from the previous day. The price of a barrel of the US WTI crude for delivery in August fell by 31 cents to $67.15.

The US labor market report, released this afternoon, barely affected oil prices. Employment growth and the unemployment rate were better than expected. The US is the world's largest oil consumer.