DAX Drifts Lower In Cautious Trade; Brenntag Down Sharply On Lower Earnings

(RTTNews) - German stocks are down in negative territory on Wednesday with investors mostly making cautious moves after recent gains in the wake of the U.S. and China striking a trade deal, and somewhat soft U.S. consumer price inflation data.

The benchmark DAX, which dropped to 23,447.10 earlier in the session, was down 99.47 points or 0.42% at 23,520.12 a little while ago.

Brenntag is down more than 4% after the company reported lower earnings for the first-quarter of its current financial year. Brenntag reported profit before tax of 192.7 million euros for the first quarter, lower than 205 million euros in the same quarter a year ago.

Net profit declined to 134.4 million euros or 0.93 euros per share from 141.4 million euros or 0.97 euros per share last year.

Bayer, which scored a sharp gain in the previous session on strong results, is down 3% on profit taking. Qiagen is lower by about 2.1%.

BMW, BASF, Volkswagen, Siemens, SAP, Mercedes-Benz, MTU Aero Engines, Porsche, Continental and Zalando are down 1 to 2%.

E.ON is gaining 1.5% after the company reported that its adjusted group net income for the first quarter of 2025 rose to 1.3 billion euros from 1.0 billion euros in the previous year. The company has affirmed its guidance for 2025 and its outlook through 2028. It reaffirmed its investment target of 8.6 billion euros for full-year 2025.

Rheinmetall is gaining 1.5%. Deutsche Boerse, Munich RE, Deutsche Telekom and Porsche Automobile Holding are up with modest gains.

Shares of commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck Holding are up 0.5%. The company has cut its volume guidance for the heavy-duty Class 8 market in North America, reflecting current market dynamics and heightened demand uncertainty. The new projection is 260,000 units - 290,000 units, down from the previous estimate of 280,000 units - 320,000 units.

On the economic front, Germany's consumer price inflation softened to a six-month low in April on falling energy prices, as initially estimated, final data from Destatis showed.

The consumer price index rose 2.1% year-on-year, following a 2.2% increase in March. The rate came in line with the initial estimate.

Inflation based on the harmonized index of consumer prices slowed for a third month in a row in April. HICP inflation eased to 2.2%, as estimated, from 2.3% in March.