The Dax DE0008469008 is likely to move somewhat further away from its record reached the previous day on Friday.

US President Donald Trump threatened the European Union with blanket punitive tariffs of 15 or 20 percent. "This is likely to increase uncertainty again, as tariff hopes were recently blamed for the DAX rise," commented experts at Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen.

Barely an hour before the start of trading, the X-Dax DE000A0C4CA0, an over-the-counter indicator for Germany's leading index, signaled a loss of 0.4 percent to 24,356 points. Its Eurozone counterpart, the EuroStoxx 50 EU0009658145, is also expected to be moderately lower. Predominantly positive Asian stock markets and another record high for the S&P 500 US78378X1072 in the US are therefore unlikely to provide any tailwind.

On Thursday, the DAX reached another high of 24,639 points in the first minutes of trading. After gaining around 24 percent this year, however, follow-up buying was lacking and the day ended slightly down. However, the DAX remained up 2.8 percent for the week.

Recently, the tariff dispute had largely left investors cold. "However, the tariffs still have the potential to massively slow global trade and corporate profits," warned portfolio manager Thomas Altmann of asset manager QC Partners. Investors should keep this in mind, despite the habituation effect that has now set in. In addition to the threat against the EU, Trump also imposed new tariffs on Canada amounting to 35 percent.

"A hardening of the trade conflict could slow export momentum and undermine the recent DAX rally," wrote Maximilian Wienke, market analyst at financial services provider eToro. In his view, a harsher tone or disappointing corporate figures could quickly trigger new volatility on the German stock market in the coming weeks.

Ahead of the upcoming reporting season, Barclays analyst Henning Cosman upgraded BMW shares (DE0005190003) from "Underweight" to "Equal Weight." The automaker's latest signals before its quarterly report made him more optimistic about margins and cash inflows. After strong price gains the previous day, BMW shares declined slightly on the Tradegate trading platform compared to the Xetra closing price.

At Schaeffler DE000SHA0019, a final analyst conference ahead of quarterly results was also in focus. A dealer, referring to a presentation by the automotive and industrial supplier, criticized the fact that both revenue and margin in the second quarter were likely to be slightly below market expectations. Schaeffler shares lost approximately 1.3 percent in premarket trading.

Meanwhile, Hugo Boss DE000A1PHFF7 could benefit from an increased annual forecast from jeans manufacturer Levi Strauss US52736R1023. However, Hugo Boss shares were below their Xetra closing price before the market opened.

Otherwise, the telecom company 1&1 DE0005545503 will be removed from the SDax DE0009653386 following the stake increase by its parent company United Internet DE0005089031. The Swedish tech company Verve Group SE0018538068 will be included in the small cap index for 1&1 before the weekend.