The DAX weakened as the German factory orders came in weaker on a month on month basis but was stronger on a quarterly basis which brings the spectre of tapering closer. It is expected that the ECB would bring in tapering next year but with the euro already very strong, Draghi may not want to ruffle the markets just yet and would probably like to take sometime and see if the dollar can recover. Over the last few weeks, a combination of euro strength and dollar weakness at the same time had helped the EURUSD to push towards 1.18 and it still continues to trade in that region as of this writing and is likely to stay strong. This may not be a comfortable position for the ECB who would like to see the euro weaker before they launch any moves towards tapering.
On the other hand, the US stock markets continue to keep posting record highs almost on a daily basis and this has become a daily feature as the stock markets there are buoyed by the strong quarterly results and also the recovering dollar since the NFP last Friday. The Fed member Kashkari is scheduled to make a speech later in the day today and the markets would be looking at the speech for any hints on what direction the Fed is likely to take in the short term.