BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks are down in negative territory in cautious trade on Wednesday amid political uncertainty in France ahead of a confidence vote early next month, and anxiety ahead of Nvidia's earnings for clues on the AI trade.
A survey showing weak German consumer confidence is also weighing on sentiment. German consumer confidence is set to continue to fall in September as rising fear of job losses weighed on purchase decisions and damped hopes of robust economic recovery, a closely watched survey showed.
The benchmark DAX, which dropped to 24,011.70 earlier in the session, was down 65.60 points or 0.27% at 24,114.27 a little while ago.
Commerzbank, which closed sharply lower on Tuesday following a rating downgrade, is down again on selling pressure. The stock is down nearly 3.5%. Deutsche Bank is down 2.7% and Zalando is down nearly 2%.
Siemens Energy and BASF are lower by about 1.5% from previous closing levels. Volkswagen, Fresenius, Heidelberg Materials and Porsche Automobil are down with modest losses.
Porsche is climbing up nearly 1.5%. Siemens Healthineers, Adidas, Beiersdorf, RWE, Deutsche Post, Infineon Technologies, Vonovia and Merck are up with modest gains.
The forward-looking GfK consumer sentiment index fell to -23.6 in September from -21.7 in the previous month. The reading was forecast to drop moderately to -22.
'With the third consecutive decline, consumer sentiment is now definitely in the summer slump,' NIM Head of Consumer Climate Rolf Burkl said.
'Growing fear of job losses is causing many consumers to remain cautious about making major purchases,' said Burkl. 'This further dampens hopes for a robust recovery in consumer sentiment before the end of the year,' added Burkl.
After rising for five consecutive months, income prospects of consumers suffered a severe setback in August largely due to fear of job losses. The corresponding index dropped 11.1 points to 4.1, the lowest since last March.
Moreover, ongoing uncertainty about consumer prices also weighed on sentiment. The geopolitical situation and the US government's tariff policy are raising concerns that energy prices could increase again.
Economic expectations deteriorated significantly for the second straight month in August. The indicator posted -7.4, the lowest in six months.
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