DAX Drifts Lower On Profit Taking After Recent Upmove

(RTTNews) - German stocks are exhibiting weakness Friday morning, with investors taking some profits after recent gains. The mood remains cautious amid concerns about potential reciprocal tariffs by the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on the nation's trading partners around the world, effective April 2025.

Investors, digesting the data showing Germany's wholesale prices increased for the second straight month in December, are also continuing to focus on earnings updates.

The benchmark DAX was down 40.29 points or 0.18% at 22,571.00 a little while ago.

Rheinmetall is up more than 8%. Commerzbank is gaining 2% and HeidelbergCement is up 1.3%. Siemens and Volkswagen are up 1.1% and 1%, respectively. Puma is up 0.75%.

Fresenius Medical Care is down more than 4%. Qiagen, Allianz, Deutsche Boerse, Hannover Rueck and Fresenius are down 1 to 1.5%.

Sartorius, Zalando, Siemens Energy, Continental, MTU Aero Engines, Adidas, Munich RE and Vonovia are moderately lower.

Data from Destatis showed Wholesale prices in Germany rose by 0.9% year-on-year in January 2025, accelerating from a 0.1% gain in the previous month. This marks the second consecutive period of growth and was the fastest since April 2023. Prices were forecast to grow 0.2% in January.

On a monthly basis, wholesales prices grew 0.9%, the most since September 2022, picking up from a 0.1% rise in December.

The main reason for the increase in wholesale prices was higher prices of non-ferrous metals and semi-finished products. Prices of coffee, tea, cocoa and spices were also considerably more expensive than in the same period last year.

Preliminary reports on Euro zone GDP growth and employment numbers for the fourth quarter are due later in the day.