The Dax also needs two attempts

It was almost a compulsory exercise. After the failed chancellor election on Tuesday had sabotaged what was thought to be a secure DAX record, it was finally broken Friday morning. It now stands just above 23,500 points, which, however, doesn't open the door to further great achievements, but rather marks the temporary peak.

After the tariff crash in early April, the index took exactly one month to return to its previous high, rising by more than 5,000 points, or a good 25 percent. The final push came on Thursday with the agreement between the US and Great Britain on tariff relief, which some see as evidence of Donald Trump's willingness to compromise.

That's the optimistic view of things. However, one could also point out that the US, even with its most pliable trading partner, has so far achieved little more than a vague declaration of intent.

But at least there have been no major disruptions from the White House recently. This allowed the quarterly results to have an impact, coming in good or at least not worse than expected. This week's five winners all fall into the former category, from MTU to Airbus and Siemens Energy to Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) and, of course, the inevitable Rheinmetall.

The defense stock temporarily reached €1,744 on Friday, and even the subsequent profit-taking couldn't really dampen the picture. Over the past six months, the share price has now risen 250 percent, and Rheinmetall is now valued at more than €70 billion on the stock market – with sales of just under €10 billion last year.

Accordingly, the share's weight in the DAX has also increased. Rheinmetall is now ranked seventh among the most important stocks in the index. The index's rally is therefore largely due to the boom in the defense industry.

Stefan Winter is the business editor of RND. He writes weekly about the stock market, financial markets, the rise and fall of share prices—and the companies behind them.