Following a sluggish beginning, German equities rebounded and entered positive territory on Thursday as investors responded to a series of earnings reports and regional economic indicators, while also anticipating the monetary policy announcement from the European Central Bank. The Federal Reserve maintained its interest rate at the current level on Wednesday, and there remains a lack of significant advancement in the U.S.-Iran peace negotiations. The benchmark DAX increased by 68.15 points, reflecting a rise of 0.28%, reaching 24,011.89 shortly before noon.

• Munich RE experienced a decline of 3.3%. Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank experienced declines of 2.9% and 2.8%, respectively.
• Symrise, GEA Group, Heidelberg Materials, and Adidas experienced declines ranging from 2% to 2.3%.
• Fresenius, BMW, Zalando, Scout24, Deutsche Boerse, Continental, Porsche Automobil Holding, Mercedes-Benz, and Fresenius Medical Care experienced declines ranging from 1% to 1.9%.
• Volkswagen Group experienced a decline of 0.8% following the announcement of reduced profit and sales revenues for its first quarter, attributed to sluggish unit sales and production levels.
• BASF exhibited little movement in trading, even as it announced an increase in profit for the first quarter. In anticipation of fiscal 2026, the company maintains its expectation for adjusted EBITDA to range from 6.2 billion euros to 7.0 billion euros.
• Brenntag experienced an increase of nearly 3% among the gainers.
• Deutsche Post experienced a notable increase of 2.5%, whereas Bayer, E.ON, and Rheinmetall saw gains ranging from 1.2% to 1.6%.
• MTU Aero Engines experienced an increase of approximately 1.5%. The company’s net income amounted to EUR200 million, translating to EUR3.59 per share. This stands in contrast to EUR224 million, or EUR4.03 per share, from the previous year.
• Puma, the German sportswear provider, experienced a rally of 2.8% following the replacement of its chief financial officer.
• Online takeaway food company Delivery Hero experienced a 6% increase following the announcement of elevated first-quarter growth in its gross merchandise value.

In economic news, data indicated that Germany’s retail sales experienced a decline of 2% year-on-year in March, a more pronounced decrease compared to the 0.3% drop observed in February. Sales were projected to decline slightly by 0.3%. Retail sales of food experienced a decline of 2.7% compared to February, while non-food retail trade saw a decrease of 1%. In March, retail sales experienced an unexpected annual decline of 2%, contrasting with the 0.9% increase observed in the preceding month. Forecasts indicated an annual growth rate of 0.5%. In nominal terms, retail sales decreased by 1.5% from February and declined by 0.5% compared to the previous year.

Germany’s GDP experienced a growth of 0.3% in the first quarter of 2026, following a 0.2% increase in the fourth quarter of the preceding year. In the most recent quarter, GDP was projected to increase by 0.1%. Data indicated that inflation in the Eurozone accelerated to 3% year-on-year in April, an increase from 2.6% in the previous month, aligning with estimates.