Using Poincar\'e duality, we obtain a formula of Lefschetz type that computes the Lefschetz number of an endomorphism of a separable nuclear $C^*$-algebra satisfying Poincar\'e duality and the Kunneth theorem. (The Lefschetz number of an endomorphism is the graded trace of the induced map on $\textrm{K}$-theory tensored with $\mathbb{C}$, as in the classical case.) We then examine endomorphisms of Cuntz--Krieger algebras $O_A$. An endomorphism has an invariant, which is a permutation of an infinite set, and the contracting and expanding behavior of this permutation describes the Lefschetz number of the endomorphism. Using this description, we derive a closed polynomial formula for the Lefschetz number depending on the matrix $A$ and the presentation of the endomorphism.

Let $A$ be a stable, separable, real rank zero $C^{*}$-algebra, and suppose that $A$ has an AF-skeleton with only finitely many extreme traces. Then the corona algebra ${\mathcal M}(A)/A$ is purely infinite in the sense of Kirchberg and R\o rdam, which implies that $A$ has the corona factorization property.