Germany Daily Briefing

Deutsche Bank delivered another record quarterly result in Q3, overtaking expectations for the second consecutive quarter as FAZ Finanzen reported. The Erträge (revenues) beat and the profit line hit a new high — a story of successful restructuring paying off in a higher-for-longer rate environment where NIM expansion benefited the commercial banking franchise. DBK's sustained outperformance has been one of the DAX's underappreciated sub-themes of 2026; with NIM tailwinds set to persist if Warsh's hawkish tone keeps the Fed from cutting, the record-profit run has room to continue into Q4.

DW Business reported that the EU's push to onshore auto-supply chains is creating friction with established suppliers from Turkey, Morocco, and Eastern Europe — a trade-off between strategic autonomy and cost efficiency that is landing directly on German OEMs. Mercedes-Benz -3.42% Wednesday extended a multi-session decline that mirrors the structural China-demand narrative and now adds a supply-chain complexity overhang. Volkswagen and BMW face the same reshoring math. The EU's 'Made in Europe' industrial policy is the medium-term cost headwind that compounds the cyclical China weakness — Eva's read: the auto sector is not recovering in 2026.

FAZ Finanzen reported the Fed left the Leitzins unchanged Wednesday with Warsh explicitly noting 'kein softes Inflations-Landing' — no soft landing on inflation — and declining to project a cut timetable. For Germany, the transmission channel is EUR/USD: if Fed rate expectations stay elevated relative to ECB, the euro weakens, which gives DAX exporters a currency tailwind but tightens ECB's room to ease without accelerating the divergence. Apple's Q3 report under new CEO John Ternus is also on FAZ's radar for Thursday; a strong iPhone-print would be another semis/tech upstream positive for Infineon and AIXTRON.