FRANKFURT (DEUTSCHE-BOERSE AG) : A number of investors are capitalizing on the ongoing sideways movement to capture short-term trading gains, despite a narrow range compared to U.S. markets. This has slightly lifted professional sentiment, though Joachim Goldberg notes it may complicate further price gains for German blue chips.

June 11, 2026. FRANKFURT (Goldberg & Goldberg). Things could have been worse for the DAX, particularly during this past sentiment week. While U.S. stock markets experienced significant turbulence over the last few trading days, European markets remained comparatively calm. Although the DAX has failed to gain value since our last sentiment survey, the 2 percent loss (in point-to-point comparison) remains among the more manageable declines seen this year. Furthermore, the trading range of 2.5 percent is hardly sensational. It almost appears as though domestic DAX followers have become nearly immune to negative geopolitical news from the Middle East. Even the highly volatile performance of U.S. semiconductor stocks has yet to trigger any contagion effects.

Meanwhile, the institutional investors we surveyed, who typically maintain a medium-term trading horizon, show no signs of fear. On the contrary: our Deutsche Börse Sentiment Index rose significantly by 20 points compared to last week, reaching a new level of -11, roughly where it stood two weeks ago.

Profit-Taking on Bearish Positions

This shift was primarily driven by last week's pessimists locking in accumulated profits. More than 80 percent of them effectively performed a 180-degree turn, moving from short to long positions. Consequently, the bear camp has shrunk by 11 percentage points. In other words: about 10 percent of the total panel is currently engaged in short-term maneuvers, with the recent stock purchases underlying this sentiment likely motivated by performance considerations.

Among private investors, our Deutsche Börse Sentiment Index changed only marginally, rising one point to a new level of +2, as polarization between bulls and bears shifted slightly in favor of the bulls. Looking only at those not surveyed via social media, sentiment improved somewhat in line with institutional investors: the sentiment index in this subgroup rose by 4 points to -8. However, the recently high level of optimism in the social media subgroup decreased significantly against the general trend, narrowing the sentiment gap between the two private investor categories.

Lingering Liabilities

Ultimately, we also observe a narrowed sentiment gap between private and institutional investors. The latter can be divided into two groups. The first consists of institutional investors who were recently successful in the short term, accounting for about a tenth of the panel (as mentioned above). Among the remaining investors, the second group, we still find a bear share of 43 percent. A large portion of this group, likely holding unfavorable entry prices, is probably still waiting for the DAX to drop further, presumably to just below the 24,000 mark.

While we believe the DAX has not suffered from major international capital outflows recently, it seems somewhat disconcerting that the market barometer failed to gain any ground at all despite the aforementioned institutional repurchases. With the DAX ending the sentiment week at the bottom of its range, and given that recent buying has reduced potential demand on the downside, the overall situation for the DAX has deteriorated since last Wednesday.

by Joachim Goldberg

June 11, 2026, © Goldberg & Goldberg for Deutsche Börse

(Deutsche Börse AG is solely responsible for the content of this column. These articles do not constitute an invitation to buy or sell securities or other assets.)