EghtesadOnline: German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened her re-election campaign with criticism of the nation’s auto executives, saying they need to embrace new technology more quickly to protect jobs and repair damage done by a diesel cheating scandal.

EghtesadOnline: In their campaign program for the German election, Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives have dropped the term "friend" in describing the relationship with the United States.

EghtesadOnline: If 2016 was full of political surprises, this year promises to deliver even more blows. March will set the tone. It’s the month the Dutch head to elections that could score a win for Geert Wilders’s anti-establishment Freedom Party, the U.K. will formally trigger the process to leave the European Union and Chancellor Angela Merkel will get a sense of how furious Germans are over the refugee crisis in a state poll that could presage trouble in the coming general election.

EghtesadOnline: Politics dominated trading on Monday, with the euro sliding as Germany’s election result foreshadowed potentially complex political-coalition building. Gold fell as West Texas crude retreated.

EghtesadOnline: U.S. stocks slid as investors weighed the impact of the Republican tax proposal that would dramatically cut levies on corporations and the wealthy. Politics dominated trading in Europe, with the euro sliding after the German election, giving European stocks a boost.

EghtesadOnline: Angela Merkel won a fourth term as German chancellor in a victory that was marred by the hollowing out of support for the two main parties and a surge for the populist AfD in a clear rebuke to her open-doors refugee policy.

EghtesadOnline: Angela Merkel’s election opponent, Martin Schulz, failed to score a decisive breakthrough in their only televised debate as the chancellor stood firm on her record, insisting that controversial decisions on keeping the country’s borders open for refugees and striking a deal with Turkey were right.

EghtesadOnline: In 2013, when Angela Merkel led her party to its strongest election showing since German reunification, the defeated Social Democrats reluctantly agreed to a “grand coalition” of the two main parties.

EghtesadOnline: German Social Democratic challenger Martin Schulz returned to his European Union roots in a speech to several thousand supporters in Frankfurt, accusing Angela Merkel of souring relations with EU allies and being unacceptably vague on plans for euro-area integration.

EghtesadOnline: Angela Merkel’s advisers see a chance that Donald Trump’s swipes against the chancellor could work in her favor as she seeks a fourth term as German leader.

EghtesadOnline: While celebrating the 2013 election victory that gave her a third term as German chancellor, Angela Merkel reached over a colleague’s shoulder and removed a German flag from his hand. A video of that small gesture, meant to declutter an image she knew would soon rocket around the globe, went viral on social media as purported evidence of Merkel’s lack of patriotism -- and is now spurring an effort to compel companies like Facebook Inc. to rein in hate speech and fake news.

EghtesadOnline: German Social Democratic leader Sigmar Gabriel said Chancellor Angela Merkel’s austerity policies threaten European cohesion as he laid out options for an SPD-led government coalition that could topple her in an election this year.

EghtesadOnline: Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans to stay calm in the face of Islamist terrorism and criticized nationalists for offering false hopes of security, signaling she’ll count on voters to opt for stability when she runs for a fourth term in 2017.