DAX Down Nearly 7% As Recession Fears Grip Market

(RTTNews) - German stocks are bleeding profusely on Monday, taking a severe hammering once again following U.S. President Donald Trump's "reciprocal tariffs" proposal and the retaliation by the Chinese government continuing to heighten fears of a global recession.

Weak German industrial production data, and Trump's warning over the weekend that governments would have to pay "a lot of money" to lift sweeping tariffs, are adding to the woes. The possibility of China exporting goods to the EU at far cheaper rates has raised concerns that Germany's industrial sector might see an erosion in revenues in the near term.

Selling is widespread and the market has plunged to multi-month lows this morning.

The benchmark DAX crahsed to 18,813.25, losing close to 1,900 points, and despite staging some recovery, remains deep down in the red at 19,293.75, down 1,411.27 points or 6.82%.

Rheinmetall is down nearly 13%. Commerzbank is plunging 11.8%, while Sartorius, MTU Aero Engines, Heidelberg Materials, Adidas, Siemens Energy, Infineon Technologies and Siemens are down 9 to 11%.

Fresenius is declining 8.9%. Deutsche Bank, Zalando, Deutsche Post, BASF, Daimler Truck Holding and Bayer are also down more than 8%.

Hannover Rueck, Allianz, Continental, Fresenius Medical Care, Siemens Healthineers, SAP, Brenntag and Muinch Rueck are down 6 to 7%.

Merck, Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche Automobil, Porsche, Henkel, E.ON, RWE and Deutsche Telekon are also down sharply.

Data from the Federal Statistical Office Destatis showed industrial production in Germany dropped 1.3% month-over-month in February, following a 2% increase in January. On a yearly basis, industrial activity fell by 4%, following a 1.6% drop in January..

A separate data from Destatis showed Germany's trade surplus increased to EUR 17.7 billion in February 2025 from an upwardly revised EUR 16.2 billion in January. Exports rose by 1.8% (month-on-month) to a ten-month high of EUR 131.6 billion in January, while imports climbed by 0.7% to a 20-month high of EUR 113.8 billion.