DAX Down Marginally In Cautious Trade Amid Tariff Concerns

(RTTNews) - German stocks are subdued in cautious trade on Tuesday amid possibility of a US government shutdown, and lingering concerns over Trump's tariff threats. Investors are also digesting the latest batch of regional economic data, including a report showing an unexpected drop in retail sales.

The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on imported lumber, kitchen furniture, and bathroom furniture made of wood, starting October 14, with further increases planned for January 1.

The benchmark DAX was down 18.91 points or 0.08% at 23,756.22 a few minutes ago.

MTU Aero Engines is gaining about 3.1%. Commerzbank is up nearly 1.5%. Siemens Healthineers, Heidelberg Materials, Siemns Energy, Scout24 SE, Deutsche Bank, Bayer, Brenntag and Siemens are up 0.5 to 1.1%.

E.ON is declining by about 1.1%. Qiagen, Daimler Truck Holding, Mercedes-Benz, BASF, Zalando, Symrise, Henkel, RWE and Volkswagen are down 0.4 to 1%.

Data from Destatis showed Germany's retail sales dropped unexpectedly in August due to a fall in non-food retailing.

Retail sales logged a monthly fall of 0.2% in August, slower than a decrease of 0.5% seen in July, the data showed. Sales were expected to rebound 0.6%.

Destatis said food sales gained 0.6%, while non-food sales declined 1% from July.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth eased to 1.8% from 2.9% in the previous month.

In nominal terms, retail sales increased 0.1% month-on-month and advanced 3.2% from the previous year.

Germany's import prices declined by 1.5% year-on-year in August, following a 1.4% fall in the previous month. This marked the fifth consecutive month of falling import prices and the sharpest drop in the current sequence. On a monthly basis, import prices declined by 0.5% in August, slipping further from the 0.4% fall recorded in the previous month.

Meanwhile, Germany's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stayed at 6.3% in September, matching market forecasts. This is the highest level since September 2020, signaling ongoing weakness in the labor market.