Investors on the German stock market moved cautiously on Wednesday morning amid a deluge of corporate earnings and ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. The Dax traded 0.2 percent higher at 24,053 points. Tensions in the Middle East also weighed on sentiment. 'A sustained de-escalation is not in sight, and persistently high oil prices make negative impacts on economic development increasingly likely,' said Andreas Lipkow, market analyst at CMC Markets. Expensive energy is also expected to have pushed German inflation higher in April. According to analyst estimates, goods and services prices rose by 3.0 percent compared to the same month last year. In March, the inflation rate had climbed to 2.7 percent. Given the unpredictable consequences of the oil price shock, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to maintain its interest rate pause later this evening.

Among the Dax gainers, Adidas stood out with a surge of more than seven percent after the sportswear manufacturer reported a 16 percent increase in quarterly operating profit. Mercedes-Benz shares rose 1.8 percent following better-than-expected results. Conversely, Deutsche Bank shares lost more than two percent.

A mega-merger in the elevator industry also generated significant buzz: Finland's Kone intends to acquire its German rival TK Elevator for 29.4 billion euros. Thyssenkrupp shares jumped 12.7 percent. The group had sold the elevator division to financial investors in 2020 and still indirectly holds a stake of just over 16 percent in the company. Investors also turned their attention to the quarterly results of US tech giants Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta Platforms, which are expected after the closing bell.

(Report by Anika Ross, edited by Myria Mildenberger. For inquiries, please contact our editorial office at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)