(RTTNews) - After a weak start, German stocks recovered and moved into positive territory on Thursday as investors reacted to a slew of earnings updates and regional economic data and looked ahead to the monetary policy announcement from the European Central Bank.
The Federal Reserve left its interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, and there is still no meaningful progress as yet on the U.S.-Iran peace talks front.
The benchmark DAX was up 68.15 points or 0.28% at 24,011.89 a few minutes before noon.
Munich RE fell 3.3%. Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank shed 2.9% and 2.8%, respectively. Symrise, GEA Group, Heidelberg Materials and Adidas lost 2%-.2.3%.
Fresenius, BMW, Zalando, Scout24, Deutsche Boerse, Continental, Porsche Automobil Holding, Mercedes-Benz and Fresenius Medical Care drifted down 1%-1.9%.
Auto major Volkswagen Group drifted down 0.8% after reporting lower profit and sales revenues in its first quarter, amid weak unit sales and production.
BASF traded flat despite reporting higher profit in the first quarter. Looking ahead for fiscal 2026, the company continues to expect adjusted EBITDA between 6.2 billion euros and 7.0 billion euros.
Among the gainers, Brenntag rose nearly 3%. Deutsche Post rallied 2.5%, while Bayer, E.ON and Rheinmetall moved up 1.2%-1.6%.
MTU Aero Engines gained about 1.5%. The company's bottom line totaled EUR200 million, or EUR3.59 per share. This compares with EUR224 million, or EUR4.03 per share, last year.
German sportswear provider Puma rallied 2.8% after replacing its chief financial officer.
Online takeaway food company Delivery Hero jumped 6% after posting higher first-quarter growth in its gross merchandize value.
In economic news, data from Destatis showed Germany's retail sales fell 2% year-on-year in March, sharper than the 0.3% fall in February. Sales were forecast to drop moderately by 0.3%.
Retail sales of food were down 2.7% from February and non-food retail trade dropped 1%.
On a yearly basis, retail sales decreased unexpectedly by 2% in March, in contrast to the 0.9% rise in the prior month. Economists had forecast an annual growth of 0.5%. In nominal terms, retail sales dropped 1.5% from February and fell 0.5% from the last year.
Germany GDP increased 0.3% in the first quarter of 2026, after rising 0.2% in the fourth quarter of the previous year. GDP was expected to rise 0.1% in the latest quarter.
Data from Eurostat showed Eurozone inflation accelerated to 3% year-on-year in April, up from 2.6% in the prior month and matching estimates.
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