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20.6%

The year-to-date return in U.S. dollar terms of the blue-chip German DAX Index through the end of last week. The country’s new coalition government plans to dramatically increase fiscal spending focused on defense and infrastructure. This has helped drive fund inflows and boosted investor sentiment. The German market has also benefitted from growing expectations of a truce in the Russia-Ukraine war and the associated reduction of energy input costs for Germany’s manufacturing base.

10,000

The decline in federal jobs during February according to last Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, from a 30-year non-recessionary high of 3,017,000 in January. Most economists and market watchers expect federal payrolls to decline by another 5%-10% in 2025 amid cutbacks from the Department of Government Efficiency. Notably, state and local government payrolls gained 16,000 last month to an all-time high of 15,076,000