German stocks rose after Social Democrats captured the biggest share of the vote in a close contest, beating the center-right bloc led by outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The result is likely to result in the SPD party led by Olaf Scholz heading a government, though the alliance led by Armin Laschet also could lead the government. A so-called traffic light coalition, with the SPD, the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats, is seen as the most probable outcome.
“The conservative CDU/CSU and the social-democrat SPD have come out almost neck and neck in Germany’s federal election, meaning either one has the potential to lead a likely moderate coalition government. The left-wing Die Linke party’s poor election showing appears to have ruled out a left-wing alliance, and its likely negative impact on German stocks,” said analysts from the BlackRock Investment Institute.
A second question is just how long it will take for a coalition to be reached. “This time around, there might be some pressure not to dilly-dally for quite as long through the middle of the second pandemic winter, during which voters might insist on having a democratically legitimized government capable of acting,” said Martin Moryson, chief economist for Europe at DWS.
The yield on the 10-year bund TMBMKDE-10Y,
The German DAX DAX,
The euro EURUSD,
The biggest Stoxx 600 advancer was Rolls-Royce RR,