German DAX 30 closes up 0.78% at 25,608

The dispersion is the story here: southern European benchmarks and Italian banks outperformed while the UK lagged, a split that points to diverging domestic drivers rather than a single regional risk-on impulse. Italian banks leading gains suggests rate and credit expectations are doing more work than broad equity sentiment. Whether that intra-European gap widens or converges is the open question worth watching.