The DAX was set for a modest recovery in Frankfurt on Friday, with the X-Dax pre-market indicator signaling a 0.7% gain to 25,437 points an hour before open. The move would return the benchmark to positive territory on a weekly basis after it had slipped back to levels last seen in late July.
Oil prices, which had surged sharply since Wednesday, were not intensifying on Friday morning — a development that lifted sentiment among investors spooked by the combination of rising energy costs and climbing bond yields following the DAX's record high in late August. In the US, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 had recovered their losses from Thursday's European-session sell-off.
"We are seeing bonds stabilize somewhat because oil prices are coming back," said Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at Consorsbank. "But this is only a snapshot that could change quickly." He added that the DAX would likely remain confined to a trading range roughly 5 percentage points below its record high.
A euro depreciation of around 2.5 cents against the US dollar over the past two-and-a-half weeks has provided a tailwind for German exporters, Stanzl noted, and German economic forecasts have also improved. Despite those factors, he said the German index continued to lag behind major Wall Street benchmarks.
Among individual names, attention focused on Hellofresh. The meal-kit provider, which trades in the SDax secondary index, announced a forecast cut after expected revenue declined and its third-quarter operating profit missed expectations. Shares fell more than 8% in pre-market trading on Tradegate following the Thursday Xetra close.
