DAX Down Nearly 6% On Mixed Earnings Updates

(RTTNews) - German stocks are showing some weakness on Thursday with investors mostly making cautious moves after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's caution that another interest rate cut by the central bank is unlikely this year.

The U.S. central bank lowered its interest rate by 25 basis points as widely expected, but hinted that another easing is unlikely this year.

Mixed earnings from major U.S. tech firms, and big name German companies and caution before the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement also contribute to the somewhat subdued mood in the market.

Investors are also following the developments on the trade front. After a meeting in South Korea that lasted about two hours, the U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping said today that they have reached a trade deal.

The benchmark DAX was down 46.81 points or 0.57% at 8,154.07 a little while ago.

Airline Lufthansa is soaring more than 5% thanks to stronger than expected third-quarter earnings. Covestro Group posted a third quarter loss attributable to shareholders of 47 million euros compared to profit of 33 million euros, last year.

HelloFresh reported a drop in adjusted earnings before interest and tax at 2.01 million euros, compared to prior year's profit of 6.7 million euros.

Puma reported a net loss of 62.3 million euros in the third quarter, compared to prior year's net income of 127.8 million euros. Loss per share was 0.42 euro, compared to earnings of 0.86 euro a year ago.

Adidas is gaining about 2.3%. Brenntag, MTU Aero Engines, Infineon Technologies, Scout24, RWE and Siemens are up 0.4 to 1%.

Siemens Energy is declining by 2.1%. Deutsche Telekom and Rheinmetall are down 1.9% and 1.6%, respectively. BASF, BMW, Commerzbank, Qiagen, Deutsche Boerse and Bayer are down 0.6 to 1%.

Volkswagen is down 1.7% after reporting a 1.3-billion-euro ($1.52 billion) operating loss in the third quarter.

In economic news, according to preliminary estimate from Destatis, the German economy stagnated in the third quarter, with the GDP remaining unchanged as expected, following a revised decline of 0.2 percent in the second quarter.

Destatis said the investment in equipment developed positively, while exports declined from the prior quarter.

On a yearly basis, calendar-adjusted GDP logged a steady growth of 0.3% in the third quarter. Price-adjusted GDP also climbed 0.3% but reversed the 0.1% fall seen in the previous quarter.