DAX falls on Trump’s tax plan and Deutsche Bank’s results

Markets in Europe were lower Thursday morning as investors waited to hear from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and digested fresh corporate earnings.

The DAX index was 0.21 percent lower with most sectors trading in negative territory. Basic resources and media stocks were the worst performers in mid-morning trade. The former was impacted by lower commodity prices with Chinese iron ore futures down for a third session out of four. What’s more, Trump’s tax reform failed to impress investors which also weighted on the moods.

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Deutsche Bank was among the biggest losers in the DAX as its earnings report was much weaker than expected. source: Bloomberg

Draghi is expected to announce the ECB’s latest monetary policy decision at lunchtime this Thursday. Analysts do not foresee any change in policy but say there could be a change in tone. Meanwhile in Japan, the central bank has raised its economic forecasts but kept its policy unchanged.

Corporate earnings are also a big focus this Thursday. Deutsche Bank reported lower-than-expected revenue for its first quarter, mainly driven by a negative impact of credit spreads, but it doubled its net profit to 575 million euros. It dropped 3.2 percent in morning deals. The bank’s revenue stood at 7.3 billion euros, a 9 percent drop compared to this time last year.

The German lender said the first-quarter earnings were hit by a negative impact of credit spreads. It added however that without such impact, revenues would have been broadly flat on a yearly basis.  Net income, however, doubled to 575 million euros in the first quarter, compared to 236 million a year ago. This was the first earnings report since the lender completed an 8.5 billion-euro capital increase earlier this month.

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 The DAX consolidates between 12.400 and 12.500 as investors await Draghi’s press conference.