After a weak week so far, the Dax DE0008469008 is likely to recover somewhat on Friday.

Over the past three days, Germany's leading index had lost nearly three percent. Now, one hour before the start of trading, the X-Dax DE000A0C4CA0, signaled a 0.9 percent increase to 23,270 points. This puts it back above its 50-day moving average and the 23,000 mark, to which it had almost fallen the day before. The Eurozone's leading index, the EuroStoxx 50 EU0009658145, is expected to be one percent higher.

Investors are eagerly awaiting Geneva, where the foreign ministers of Germany, France, and Great Britain plan to negotiate with their counterparts in Tehran about Iran's nuclear program. Against the backdrop of a possible US intervention alongside Israel in the war with Iran, one goal of the European ministers is to persuade Iran to relent on its nuclear ambitions.

Meanwhile, an immediate US entry into war no longer seems quite so likely. The White House still sees a "significant opportunity" for negotiations with Iran. According to his spokeswoman, US President Donald Trump will wait and see developments and decide on a possible military move within the next two weeks.

This Friday is another big expiration day: This is the day futures contracts on stocks and indices expire on the futures exchanges. Market traders refer to a "big expiration" or "quadruple expiration" when options and futures on indices and individual stocks expire on the same day. Significant price fluctuations on such days are especially noticeable for the heavyweight stocks in the respective indices.

Thomas Altmann, Head of Portfolio Management at QC Partners, pointed out that volatility in the DAX has recently risen sharply. This demonstrates the great uncertainty currently dominating the stock markets. As a result, many investors have hedged against price losses with so-called put options. However, many of these instruments expire this Friday, thus depriving the DAX of a large part of its safety net.

Among individual stocks, Wacker Chemie shares DE000WCH8881 traded on the Tradegate platform just under one percent below Thursday's Xetra closing price. Deutsche Bank withdrew its buy recommendation for the stock.

The electrolysis specialist Thyssenkrupp Nucera DE000NCA0001 is acquiring key technology components from the struggling Danish company Green Hydrogen Systems DK0061540341. Thyssenkrupp Nucera gained almost one percent on Tradegate.