Waiting is the motto on the German stock market on Wednesday before a likely further increase in key interest rates in the USA.

Around noon, the Dax fell by 0.29 percent to 13,999 points.

The leading index is currently finding it difficult to sustainably leave the 14,000 point mark behind.

The M-Dax of medium-sized stocks lost 0.84 percent to 29,681 points.

The leading eurozone index, the Euro Stoxx 50, was 0.4 percent lower.

The American Federal Reserve will probably raise the key interest rate in one big step by 0.5 percentage points in the evening due to inflation, experts expect.

It would be the second rate hike in a row after a 0.25 point hike in March.

In the reporting season things got down to business in the middle of the week.

The healthcare group Fresenius, its dialysis subsidiary Fresenius Medical Care, the medical technology manufacturer Siemens Healthineers, the insurer Hannover Re and Volkswagen published quarterly figures from the Dax alone.

Fresenius shares were among the biggest winners in the Dax with a plus of 3.4 percent, while FMC was one of the biggest losers with minus 5.5 percent.

Operationally, Fresenius' business was "not as bad as feared," wrote analyst Daniel Grigat from the Stifel investment company.

At FMC, analyst David Adlington from JP Morgan criticized the quality of the results, since, among other things, profits from the sale of clinics were included.

Siemens Healthineers raised its full-year guidance again after a robust quarter.

The titles gained 1.1 percent.

The titles of the IT service provider Cancom fell by almost 15 percent in the MDax after it had lowered its forecast for this year.

The analysts at Jefferies noted that the first quarter was very disappointing.

According to figures, the shares of the fashion manufacturer Hugo Boss lost 5.2 percent.

Better than feared was the first assessment of Teamviewer.

The share price of the software provider specializing in remote maintenance rose by 9.5 percent.