German stocks experienced notable gains on Thursday, buoyed by a reduction in inflationary concerns and a series of promising corporate earnings reports that bolstered market sentiment. Brent crude front-month futures declined to $81.19 a barrel before rebounding to $92.05, yet they continued to linger in negative territory, reflecting a loss of approximately 0.8%. The benchmark DAX, which rose to a fresh record high of 27,001.57, was up 243.33 points or 0.91% at 26,885.40 a few minutes before noon.
Shares of insurer Allianz increased by 1.5%, buoyed by third-quarter earnings that surpassed expectations and a positive adjustment to the full-year earnings forecast. For the nine-month period, Allianz reported an operating profit of 14.1 billion euros, surpassing the previous year’s figure of 13.1 billion euros. In light of its robust performance, the company has adjusted the upper limit of its fiscal 2026 operating profit target range to approximately 18.6 billion euros, an increase from the prior estimate of 17.4 billion euros, with a variance of plus or minus 1 billion euros.
- Munich RE experienced an increase of 1.8% following third quarter results that surpassed expectations. The company reported third quarter net income of 1.74 billion euros compared to 2.00 billion euros a year ago. For the nine-month period, the net result increased to 5.67 billion euros, up from 5.18 billion euros in the prior year. Insurance revenue from insurance contracts rose to 46.58 billion euros, up from 45.16 billion euros the previous year.
- Merck advanced 2.5% following an upward revision of its annual core profit guidance.
- Siemens experienced an increase of nearly 5% after it raised its medium-term targets, buoyed by fourth-quarter results that surpassed expectations.
- Zalando experienced an increase of slightly more than 4%. Fresenius experienced an increase of 2.75%.
- Continental, Hochtief, Adidas, Gea Group, Symrise, Deutsche Post, Siemens Energy, Bayer, Heidelberg Materials, and Vonovia experienced an increase of 1.3% to 2%.
- MTU Aero Engines, Deutsche Telekom, BASF, Beiersdorf and E.On posted moderate gains.
- Brenntag experienced a decline of nearly 2%. Infineon Technologies declined by approximately 0.8%, whereas Commerzbank, Henkel, Rheinmetall, BMW, and Deutsche Bank experienced losses ranging from 0.3% to 0.7%.
