DAX Edges Higher On Rate Cut Hopes

(RTTNews) - German stocks edged up slightly on Wednesday amid hopes that global interest rates have peaked.

Investors shrugged off data from Destatis showing that German factory orders decreased for the first time in three months, mainly due to weaker demand for machinery and equipment.

Factory orders dropped 3.7 percent month-on-month in October, reversing the 0.7 percent increase in September.

Economists had expected a 0.2 percent increase. Year-on-year, factory orders decreased by 7.3 percent in October.

The benchmark DAX was up 0.2 percent at 16,564 after climbing 0.8 percent in the previous session.

Fresenius SE fell 2 percent. The healthcare group said it would utilize the governmental compensation and reimbursement payments for German hospitals, amounting to up to 300 million euros, as stipulated in the relief package.

Merck KgaA shares plunged 14 percent after the science and technology major said its two-Phase III EVOLUTION clinical trials of evobrutinib in Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis did not meet their primary endpoints.