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.

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

Germany’s stock index futures and the euro both rallied in Asian trading after the country’s opposition leader Friedrich Merz won Sunday’s federal election, matching opinion polls and paving the way for a pivot to increased spending.

US stocks looked set to claw back ground Monday with Nvidia Corp. rising in early trading, days before its earnings release. German stocks gained after conservatives led by Friedrich Merz emerged as the winners in a weekend vote.

Friedrich Merz is on course to become post-World War II Germany’s 10th chancellor, the culmination of a yearslong political career that was once sidelined by his party’s iconic leader

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.

Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany's mainstream conservatives, has said that Europe must become independent from the United States in security matters, after his grouping won the biggest share of the vote in federal elections.

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.