Dutch investors profited primarily from oil companies in first quarter of 2026: DNB

Dutch private investors benefited significantly from investments in oil companies in the first quarter of 2026. Conversely, households’ capital gains on other investments evaporated due to the war in the Middle East, according to calculations by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) following the first stock market quarter of the year.

DNB included six major listed oil companies in its study: Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies, BP, and Eni. Due to rising oil prices, the combined value of shareholdings in these Big Oil companies reached €5.3 billion, €686 million more than three months earlier.

According to DNB, the total value could have been even higher, as Dutch households also sold €677 million worth of shares in the six companies. The researchers assume that investors wanted to cash in on the price increases immediately.

The total value of Dutch households’ investments rose by €3.8 billion in the first quarter to €207.6 billion. This was primarily due to substantial purchases and exchange rate gains. The AEX index still rose in the first two months of this year, but those gains were wiped out in the final month of the quarter by the war in the Middle East.

According to DNB, the substantial purchases were part of a trend. Households buy a large amount of investments in January, the researchers found. In 2026, this amounted to €3 billion. In January 2025, it was €2.7 billion.