John Authers, Columnist

What's in Germany's Shrinking Status Quo for Markets

Rising stocks will be further propelled by defense spending, but the new government is already on notice.

February 25, 2025 at 5:01 AM UTC

John Authers is a senior editor for markets and Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former chief markets commentator at the Financial Times, he is author of “The Fearful Rise of Markets.”

The establishment gets four years on probation.
Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

To get John Authers' newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here.

Politics are too dramatic for comfort, and they’re having unpredictable market impacts. The Trump 2.0 move to cut back federal spending (even on defense), spearheaded by Elon Musk, saw Tesla Inc.’s stock almost double after the election. It’s now given most of that back. But Rheinmetall AG, Germany’s largest arms maker, has boomed as the Trump 2.0 retreat from the transatlantic alliance prompts calls for a splurge of European defense spending. Remarkably, as DOGE runs riot, an old-school German industrial group is far outperforming Tesla: