BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - After three successive days of declines, Germany's equity benchmark DAX climbed higher on Friday with investors digesting a slew of economic data and corporate earnings updates.
Concerns about geopolitical tensions and tariffs lingered, but the focus remained mainly on domestic data.
Reports about U.S. lawmakers reaching a bipartisan funding deal to avoid a government shutdown aided sentiment. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is reportedly set to announce former Federal Reserve official Kevin Warsh as his choice to replace Jerome Powell as the chair of the central bank.
The DAX, which climbed to 24,528.01 earlier in the session, was up 181.25 points or 0.75% at 24,474.49 a few minutes past noon.
German sportswear maker Adidas rallied 6% after reporting record revenues in 2025 and announcing a 1-billion-euro ($1.2 billion) stock buyback.
SAP gained 2.5% and Deutsche Bank moved up 2%. Deutsche Boerse, Commerzbank and Scout24 climbed 1.5-1.7%, while Fresenius and Brenntag gained 1.2% and 1%, respectively.
Henkel, Munich RE, Siemens Energy, Fresenius Medical Care, Hannover Rueck, Heidelberg Materials, Dutsche Post, Zalando, Beiersdorf, Allianz and Symrise also moved higher.
Volkswagen dropped nearly 1%. Rheinmetall shed 0.8%, while Vonovia, GEA Group, Porsche Automobil Holding and BASF lost 0.5%-0.65%.
Data from Destatis showed import prices in Germany declined 2.3% in December from a year ago, following a 1.9% drop in November. However, the decline was slower than economists' forecast of 2.6% fall.
Month-on-month, import prices edged down 0.1%, in contrast to the 0.5% rise in November. Prices were expected to fall 0.4%.
Export prices remained flat on a yearly basis compared to the 0.3% rise in November. On a monthly basis, export prices slid 0.1%. In 2025 as a whole, import prices decreased 0.3% compared with 2024 and export prices increased 1%, data showed.
A separate data from the federal statistical office showed the German economy expanded 0.3% on quarter in the last three months of 2025, the strongest performance in three quarters, compared to a flat reading in the previous period and above forecasts of 0.2%, preliminary estimates showed.
For 2026, the German government forecasts economic growth of 1%. Growth in 2027 is seen at 1.3%.
Germany's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held steady at 6.3% in January 2026, highlighting a sluggish and uneven recovery in Europe's largest labor market. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, unemployment rose by 176,600 to 3.08 million, marking its highest level in nearly 12 years.
A preliminary reading on consumer price inflation for the month of January is due later in the day.
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