The leading German index gained 0.7 percent to 18,541 points in the first few minutes of trading. Investors are focusing on the US Federal Reserve in the middle of the week. The Fed is likely to hold its feet still when it decides on interest rates in the evening (20:00 CEST). However, with declining inflation, experts believe that the time for a turnaround could soon have come. "The Fed had better give concrete indications today of a cut in key interest rates in September, otherwise things could get really uncomfortable on the stock market," said Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. After disappointing figures from Microsoft on Tuesday, investors on Wall Street were concerned that the AI-driven rally may have gone too far.
Investors in Germany had a number of company balance sheets to digest. Shares in aircraft manufacturer Airbus soared by 4.8 percent despite a slump in profits. According to analysts at Raiffeisen Research, the quarter was in part better than feared. In contrast, Siemens Healthineers shares fell by around seven percent. The medical technology subsidiary of Siemens is not growing as strongly as hoped due to sluggish business in China.
(Report by Anika Ross. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)
