Dax investors are positioning themselves ahead of new inflation data and the interest rate decision in the USA.

After a weak start to the week, the leading German index rose by 0.5 percent to 18,458 points in the first few minutes of trading on Wednesday. "The inflation data from the USA and the Federal Reserve's subsequent interest rate decision are likely to determine the direction of the stock markets over the summer," commented Jochen Stanzl, analyst at broker CMC Markets. The main focus will be on the future interest rate path of the US Federal Reserve.

Among the individual stocks, SAP shares rose by one percent following the figures of US rival Oracle the previous evening. At Oracle, strong growth in the promising cloud business had pushed the software company's weak balance sheet into the background. "The AI momentum is positive, at least in terms of sentiment," said one trader. In contrast, shares in industrial and automotive supplier Stabilus slumped by 16.7 percent at its peak after lowering its forecast for the current year.

(Report by Stefanie Geiger, edited by Christian Götz. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)