The centre-right CDU has emerged as the biggest party in the German election, making Merz the most likely to lead a government, following coalition negotiations.

European shares and the euro climbed on Monday as Germany's election produced no nasty surprises, while Wall Street futures firmed on hopes results from AI diva Nvidia this week would justify the tech sector's sky-high valuations.

Wall Street struggled for traction on Monday, ending mixed after slumping last week, while German election results buoyed German shares and Europe's single currency as investors waited for midweek results from artificial intelligence chip leader Nvidia.

BERLIN (Reuters) -Friedrich Merz, a man who has never held a government role, is preparing to take the reins in Germany just as the country faces its biggest economic and diplomatic crises in decades and Europe looks urgently for a new generation of leaders for an era of transatlantic tension.

The leader of the conservative Christian Democrats celebrated as exit polls indicated they had won Sunday’s election, which had the highest voter turnout in decades.

Plains All American Pipeline, BJ's Wholesale, Pilgrim's Pride and Nvidia have been highlighted in this Investment Ideas article.

Nvidia (NVDA) suffered a record one-day loss in market value last month over how low-cost DeepSeek might shake up the "AI" ecosystem, although shares have since mostly bounced back.

On top of all that, Trump reminded everyone that tariffs on Mexico and Canada are still on the table ahead of next Monday’s deadline. This is a continuation of the 25% tariffs threatened at the start of February which were then delayed by a month in exchange for cooperation on US border policies.