BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The German market's benchmark index DAX slipped into negative territory on Wednesday as investors reacted to a slew of earnings and other corporate news and continued to follow news from the geopolitical front.
Higher oil prices amid a lack of progress in U.S.-Iran peace efforts raised inflation concerns and weighed significantly on investor sentiment.
With the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement due later in the day, and the Bank of England and the European Central Bank scheduled to make their policy statements on Thursday, the mood in the market remained cautious.
The DAX was down 103.05 points or 0.43% at 23,937.24 a few minutes before noon.
Deutsche Bank drifted down 2.5% despite reporting an 8% increase in profit in its first quarter, compared to a year ago.
Looking ahead for fiscal 2026, the lender noted that first-quarter performance in line with expectations, providing a solid step-off point for the bank's full-year 2026 revenue ambition of 33 billion euros.
Mercedes-Benz Group gained modest ground in positive territory after reporting first quarter net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.42 billion euros compared to 1.68 billion euros, prior year. Earnings per share was 1.49 euros compared to 1.74 euros.
Shares of sportswear maker adidas gained 7% thanks to strong quarterly earnings. The company's net income in the first quarter increased by 12.6% compared to a year ago. Looking ahead for fiscal 2026, the company continues to expect profitability to further improve and projects operating profit to increase to a level of around 2.3 billion euros.
Scout24 SE climbed 5.3% after the company said its first-quarter net income rose 37%, helped by higher revenues and gains from foreign-currency effects.
Symrise moved up 5.4%. Infineon Technologies gained nearly 4% and Siemens Energy moved up 2.3%. Deutsche Telekom and Zalando also posted notable gains.
Hannover RE, Munich RE and Merck lost 3.1%, 2.7% and 2.5%, respectively. SAP, Vonovia, BMW, E.ON, Allianz and Beiersdorf also drifted notably lower.
In economic news, a report from the European Commission said the Eurozone Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) fell for the third consecutive month to 93.0 in April 2026, hitting its lowest level since November 2020 and missing market expectations of 95.2, amid growing concerns over the economic outlook due to the Iran war.
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