DAX Drifts Lower In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - The German market is notably lower on Wednesday, weighed down by losses in the defense stocks, amid rising optimism about a potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal.

The focus is on the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, that gets underway on Thursday. Investors are awaiting speeches from several central bank chiefs, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The benchmark DAX was down 81.01 points or 0.34% at 24,354.54 a little while ago.

Brenntag, Rheinmetall, Deutsche Bank, Siemens, E.ON and Siemens Energy are down 0.8 to 1.2%.

MTU Aero Engines, Porsche, BMW, Bayer, Beiersdorf, Daimler Truck Holding, Volkswagen, SAP, Infineon Technologies and Commerzbank are down 0.4 to 0.7%.

Henkel, Deutsche Boerse, Symrise, Deutsche Telekom, Merck and BASF are down 0.6 to 1%.

Zalando, Fresenius, Porsche Automobil Holding and Munich RE and Siemens Healthineers are up with modest gains.

Data from Destatis showed Germany's producer prices declined for the fifth straight month in July, falling by 1.5% year-on-year, faster than the 1.3% drop in June.

Energy prices alone logged an annual decline of 6.8% in July. Intermediate goods were also less expensive, down 0.9% from the previous year.

On the other hand, consumer goods were 3.5% more expensive. Prices for capital and durable goods climbed 1.8% and 1.9%, respectively.

Excluding energy prices, producer prices were 1% higher than in the same period last year.

Month-on-month, producer prices dropped 0.1% in July.

Data from Eurostat showed that the annual core inflation rate in the Eurozone which excludes prices for energy, food, alcohol & tobacco, steadied at 2.3% in July, the same as in each of the previous two months.

The headline annual inflation rate in the Eurozone was unchanged from the prior month at 2% in July. This marks the second consecutive month that inflation has aligned with the European Central Bank's official target.