The German market is moderately lower in afternoon trading Wednesday, as European debt worries returned following the failure of the region's leaders to reach an agreement on a second Greek rescue plan. Lower U.S. index futures and weak cues from Asia impacted sentiment.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 0.63 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is dropping 0.16 percent.
The DAX index opened lower at 7,178 and has remained in negative territory. The index is currently losing 0.36 percent.
ThyssenKrupp is leading the decliners by falling 2.1 percent. Technology firms Infineon Technologies and SAP are down 1.5 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.
Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank are losing 1.4 percent and 0.9 percent, in that order.
RWE is falling 1.3 percent, while E.ON is losing 0.5 percent. Citigroup cut its price target on RWE to 33 euros from 39 euros, while the brokerage upgraded E.ON to "Hold" from "Sell." Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs reduced its price target on E.ON to 23 euros from 24 euros. Separately, the stock was raised to 'Premium List' at Societe Generale.
HeidelbergCement is down 0.21 percent. The stock's price target was reduced to 64 euros from 66.50 euros at Goldman Sachs. Meanwhile, Unicredit initiated the stock with "Buy" and a price target of 55.21 euros.
Automakers BMW and Daimler are slightly up, while Volkswagen is notably higher.
Sportsgoods giant Adidas is gaining 1.1 percent. HSBC raised the stock to "Overweight" from "Neutral" and increased the price target to 65 euros from 50 euros.
Elsewhere in Europe, the French CAC 40 is falling 0.42 percent and the UK's FTSE 100 is dropping 0.30 percent. Switzerland's SMI is receding 0.13 percent.
In economic news, U.K. jobless claims increased more than expected in May, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance rose by 19,600 to 1.49 million in May, compared to economists' expectation of an increase of 6,500. The claimant count rate came in at 4.6 percent, in line with the consensus forecast.
Eurozone industrial production grew by seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent in April from March, data released by Eurostat showed. Economists were expecting a monthly fall of 0.2 percent after staying flat in March.
Across Asia/Pacific, many major markets ended lower. Australia's All Ordinaries lost 0.34 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.90 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.68 percent. However, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.28 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages gave back some ground going into the close but still ended the day firmly positive. The Dow advanced 1 percent, the Nasdaq rose 1.5 percent and the S&P 500 climbed 1.3 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is sliding $0.77 to $98.60 per barrel and August gold is dropping $5.5 to $1518.9 a troy ounce.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.