DAX Rises 3% As Trump Tones Down Rhetoric On Powell, Tariffs; SAP Surges On Results

(RTTNews) - German stocks are rising sharply on Wednesday, buoyed by some upbeat corporate earnings updates, and a somewhat softer tone from U.S. President Donald Trump on the tariff issue, and toward Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The U.S. President toned down his rhetoric on Powell, saying he would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates but have no intention to fire him.

Additionally, Trump also admitted that the 145% tariffs on China are "very high" and they will come down substantially.

The market is up despite data showing an unexpected contraction in Germany's private sector activity in the month of April.

The benchmark DAX was up 605.23 points or 2.85% 21,883.91 a little while ago. The index had climbed to 21,977.14 earlier in the session.

SAP is surging nearly 11% after reporting a 60% year-on-year increase in operating profit, The company reported first-quarter earnings of EUR 1.8 billion, compared to EUR 0.82 billion a year ago. Revenue for the first quarter was EUR 9.013 billion, compared to EUR 8.041 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Brenntag is rising 4%. Deutsche Bank, BMW, MTU Aero Engines, Continental, Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, Commerzbank and Merck are up 2.5 to 3.4%.

Adidas, BASF, Deutsche Post, Porsche, Sartorius, Bayer, Siemens Healthineers, Zalando, Volkswagen, Porsche Automobil Holding, Henkel, Beirsdorf and Heidelberg Materials are also up sharply.

E.ON is declining 2.8%. Rheinmetall is down 2.6% and RWE is lower by about 1%.

Data from S&P Global showed the HCOB Flash Germany Composite PMI declined to 49.7 in April 2025 from 51.3 in March, pointing to a surprise contraction in private sector activity, the first in four months.

The services sector moved back into contraction, with the PMI coming in at 48.8 for the month of April from 50.9 in March. Meanwhile, the manufacturing downturn deepened to 48.0 from 48.3.