Europe midday: Stoxx rallies as eurozone GDP data boosts sentiment

(Sharecast News) - European shares rallied at midday as positive eurozone GDP data offset negative sentiment from major corporate earnings that revealed the cost of US President Donald Trump's global tariff war.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was up 0.11% to 5551. Germany's DAX also recovered morning losses to be 0.23% higher.

Traders are eyeing rate decisions from the Bank of Canada and Federal Reserve, with the US central bank chief Jerome Powell expected to announce another pause on cuts amid inflation uncertainty and pressure from Trump to cut rates.

Sentiment was hit as German auto makers Mercedes-Benz and Porsche revealed they would take a combined �762m hit from tariffs.

Mercedes-Benz said duties would cost it �362m, while Porsche revealed a �400m impact. Trump imposed tariffs of 27.5% on car imports from the European Union and UK. A new EU trade deal has cut that to 15%, while a separate agreement with the UK will see a 10% tariff on the first 100,000 exports.

On the economics front, the eurozone economy managed to defy forecasts and expand by 0.1% in the second quarter, according to official flash data published on Wednesday.

Economists had anticipated zero growth after a 0.6% expansion in the first three months of the year.

A stronger-than-expected economic performance in France and Spain, helped offset a contraction in Germany-the single-currency bloc's largest economy.

Earlier preliminary data from German statistics agency Destatis showed German GDP shrank slightly by 0.1% in the second quarter of 2025 from the previous three months.

In other equity news, Adidas shares slumped as the sportswear maker said US tariffs would add around �200m to second half costs.

HSBC stock fell as the lender posted a fall in profits with a large impairment charge from its stake in China's Bank of Communications.

Chemicals distributor IMCD tanked after releasing results.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com