Despite increasing fears of US inflation, the German stock market initially held up well at the start of the week. The Dax rose in early trading by 0.2 percent to 12,459 points. The MDax of medium-sized German companies gained 0.2 percent to 22,373 points. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 went up 0.1 percent.

The Dax comes from a turbulent previous week: after being able to defend the round mark of 12,000 points with difficulty, on Friday afternoon it had climbed to its highest level since the end of September with 12,676 points. However, it was unable to maintain this level given the weak US stock markets. Once again, the topic of inflation has thrown a spanner in the works of recovery: Inflation forecasts published by the University of Michigan on Friday have fueled concerns that the US Federal Reserve will have to continue its restrictive course in the fight against inflation rates, according to Credit Suisse.

With a price increase of 0.5 percent, Lufthansa shares defied negative news from the subsidiary Eurowings. The pilots of the low-cost airline went on a three-day tariff strike on Monday morning.

After a clouded outlook for the medical and safety technology company, Drägerwerk shares fell by 6.4 percent. In late trading on Friday, the shares had already fallen to EUR 37.80, the lowest level since 2010. After a weak quarter, Drägerwerk can no longer meet its annual targets due to ongoing supply chain problems and high material procurement costs.

At the financial service provider Hypoport, the fall in demand for real estate as a result of rising interest rates and economic risks is causing business to drop. The transaction volume on Hypoport's Europace credit platform fell significantly in the third quarter. The company only received the annual targets in September. The share certificates became cheaper by 2.9 percent.

Upbeat commentary further spurred Morphosys' stock up 6.9 percent to its highest level since mid-August.