Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
A handful of companies dubbed Germany’s answer to the US “magnificent seven” have driven a strong rally in the country’s stock market this year, defying the gloom enveloping the domestic economy.
Frankfurt’s Dax, an index of 40 blue-chips, has risen 18.7 per cent this year, beating the benchmarks in France and the UK, and far outstripping the region-wide Stoxx Europe 600 index’s 4.8 per cent gain.
The performance comes in spite of weak domestic growth and political turmoil, with Germany’s unpopular coalition government collapsing in November after the parties were unable to reach an agreement over reforms to a fiscal “debt brake”, and the country now heading for a snap election in February.
Meanwhile, the economy is expected to expand by just 0.6 per cent in 2025, down from 1.2 per cent…
