German stocks were largely unchanged on Wednesday as investors awaited the government’s economic forecast, which could indicate a GDP contraction in 2024.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner expressed concerns about the nation's economic situation, describing it as "treading water" and indicating that the government is "not satisfied with the current economic trajectory."
In other developments, Germany's trade surplus saw a rise in August, primarily due to an unanticipated boost in exports accompanied by a sharper-than-expected drop in imports, according to official figures released earlier today.
Exports experienced a month-on-month increase of 1.3 percent in August, following a 1.7 percent rise in July, as reported by Destatis. This marked the second consecutive month of export growth, defying predictions of a 1.0 percent decrease.
Conversely, imports saw a decline of 3.4 percent, which reversed the previous month's 5.3 percent gain. This marked the first drop in imports in three months and exceeded the anticipated 2.5 percent decline.
Consequently, the trade surplus expanded to EUR 22.5 billion from EUR 16.9 billion in July.
The DAX index fell slightly by 0.1 percent to reach 19,045, continuing its trend from the previous session, where it decreased by 0.2 percent.
On the corporate front, wind turbine manufacturer Nordex SE rose by 1.7 percent. The company announced securing orders for 1,726 MW of wind turbines in the third quarter, compared to 2,251 MW in the same period last year. Nonetheless, for the six months ending in September, Nordex SE reported an increase in total orders to 5,083 MW, surpassing the previous year's figure of 4,892 MW.
