Market sentiment had already soured on Friday following the lack of rapprochement in the Iran conflict after U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to China. Over the weekend, President Trump again threatened Iran with consequences should the leadership in Tehran fail to act swiftly in accordance with his demands. 'The clock is ticking for Iran,' he wrote in a post on Truth Social on Sunday. Simultaneously, Iran intends to present a regulatory framework for the passage of cooperating vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, which helped limit losses on the stock exchanges.
'The two primary drivers, the Iran war and the costs of investing in Artificial Intelligence, are fueling inflation, and ten-year bond yields are skyrocketing. This represents a further headwind for risk assets,' said Michele Morganti, strategist at Generali Investments. Rising bond yields make fixed-income securities more attractive to investors than riskier equities. European stocks continued to lag behind U.S. peers due to weaker earnings growth and high energy costs, Morganti added.
BITCOIN UNDER PRESSURE AGAIN
The simmering conflict between the U.S. and Iran also triggered increasing nervousness in the crypto market. Bitcoin, the highest-volume cyber-currency, lost nearly two percent to trade at 76,943 dollars. Ether and Ripple shed approximately 3.5 and 2.5 percent, respectively. 'A renewed military escalation could abruptly halt the recovery movement that the crypto market has laboriously built up recently,' said Timo Emden of the analysis firm Emden Research.
Expectations of persistently high energy costs weighed on aviation stocks. Europe's largest low-cost carrier, Ryanair, posted record profits for the 2025/26 fiscal year on the back of strong demand. However, CEO Michael O'Leary remained cautious regarding the upcoming summer quarter. 'We are clearly moving through a period of significant uncertainty,' the executive emphasized. Ryanair shares fell by around one percent. Shares of competitors Wizz Air, Air France, and Lufthansa lost between one and four percent.
SARTORIUS AND DEUTSCHE BOERSE ON THE RISE
Conversely, a report regarding activist investor Elliott taking a stake in the major U.S. shareholder Bio-Rad provided a boost to Sartorius shares. Preference shares of the Goettingen-based pharma and laboratory supplier rose 3.7 percent to 210.40 euros, making them the second-largest gainers in the MDax mid-cap index.
Deutsche Boerse shares were also in demand, gaining nearly three percent. The Frankfurt stock exchange operator had published a voting rights notification from activist shareholder TCI on Friday evening, indicating that the latter had increased its stake.
The plan by advertising group Publicis to acquire U.S. data specialist LiveRamp was also well-received by investors. LiveRamp shares jumped more than 25 percent to 37.53 dollars in Wall Street pre-market trading, while Publicis shares rose by around two percent. Publicis intends to acquire LiveRamp for 38.50 dollars per share. With this acquisition, the Paris-based company aims to expand its capabilities in the fields of data and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
(Report by Sanne Schimanski, edited by Ralf Banser. For inquiries, please contact our editorial office at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)
