22.08.202514:32:21UTC+00DAX Gains Ground

On Friday afternoon, the DAX in Frankfurt experienced a rise of approximately 0.5%, surpassing the 24,400 level. This increase came in the wake of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments at Jackson Hole, indicating a potential interest rate cut in the upcoming month. Despite ongoing concerns about inflation, Powell underscored the escalating risks to the labor market. Concurrently, traders continued evaluating the comprehensive impacts of the EU-US trade agreement. Domestically, the German economy contracted by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter from April to June, a sharper decline than the initial estimate of -0.1% and following a 0.3% growth in Q1. In corporate developments, defense companies Hensoldt and Renk saw their shares climb 3.6% and 1.4% respectively, after being upgraded by Citigroup from a "sell" to "neutral" rating. Conversely, Commerzbank and Deutsche Post reported significant declines, down by 3.1% and 2.2%. Overall, the index is positioned to record a 0.2% increase for the week.