Strong Corporate Earnings, Weak Oil Prices Lift German Market

(RTTNews) - Despite lingering concerns about Middle East tensions, German stocks climbed higher on Friday, pulling the benchmark DAX up from a near four-week low, thanks to some upbeat earnings and preliminary PMI data. A sharp drop in oil prices contributed as well to market's recovery.

Brent crude futures slipped to $96.40 a barrel before recovering to $96.90, but still remained as much as 3.7% down from previous close.

The DAX was up 250.17 points or 1.01% at 24,959.50 about a quarter past noon.

SAP surged 6.3% after posting higher revenue in its latest quarter. The company's bottom line came in at EUR2.209 billion, or EUR1.89 per share. This compares with EUR1.749 billion, or EUR1.45 per share, last year.

Siemens Energy firmed up 2.3%. Siemens Healthineers, Commerzbank, Rheinmetall, Fresenius, Scout24, Deutsche Bank, Siemens, Deutsche Boerse, Heidelberg Materials and Merck climbed 1%-1.5%.

Volkswagen drifted down 1.6% after reporting weaker-than-expected second-quarter profit and cutting its sales and car delivery forecasts for the year.

Adidas dropped about 2.3% and Qiagen shed nearly 1%. BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Brenntag, Bayer and RWE lost 0.4%-0.7%.

In economic news, the S&P Global Flash Germany Composite PMI rose to 51.2 in July 2026 from 49.5 in June, beating forecasts of 49.8. It is the highest reading in four months, with the private sector activity moving back to growth after three straight months of contraction,

Germany's S&P Global Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.2 in July 2026 from 50.3 in June, well above market expectations of 50.5, according to a preliminary estimate. Meanwhile, the S&P Global Flash Services PMI rose to 49.6 in July 2026 from 48.6 in June, marking a four-month high and beating market expectations of 49, according to preliminary estimates.

A report from GfK Group said Germany's GfK Consumer Climate Indicator edged down to -29.6 heading into August from a revised -29.3 in July, remaining at a low level and missing expectations of an improvement to -28.5.