The positive mood among investors following the latest US jobs report continues at the start of the new week.

In early trading on Monday, the Dax was up 0.3 percent at 18,050 points, extending its gains from Friday. The boom in the US labor market weakened unexpectedly significantly, fueling hopes of earlier interest rate cuts by the Fed.

However, analysts were cautious. "The reaction on Wall Street to the only slightly weaker than expected data showed how little investors are now satisfied with when it comes to the interest rate turnaround," said expert Jürgen Molnar from broker RoboMarkets. "These figures were nothing more than a confirmation of the rate hike in the course of the year, which Fed Chairman Powell had already virtually ruled out on Wednesday. September as the first of perhaps two rate cuts this year remains the most realistic option."

For the most part, there were no major swings in individual stocks. The biggest winners in the Dax were the shares of the defense company Rheinmetall, which advanced by around one percent. The laggards were the ex-dividend shares of Deutsche Post and the energy giant RWE, which fell by a good four and around two percent respectively.

(Report by Zuzanna Szymanska, edited by Christian Götz. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)