The approaching turnaround in interest rates in the United States has frightened Dax investors.
The leading German index fell by 1.5 percent to 15,231 points at the start of trading on Thursday morning.
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said after Wednesday's Fed meeting that monetary authorities stand ready to tighten in March if conditions warrant.
In doing so, it paved the way for the first interest rate hike since the beginning of the corona pandemic.
Further increases throughout the year are likely to follow.
The reason is the high rate of inflation and the good situation on the labor market. In addition, the Fed signaled that further rate hikes are to follow soon – possibly more than expected. Wall Street also reacted to this with significant price losses. "Powell has become a stock market scare," said Thomas Altmann of asset manager QC Partners. “The new consensus for this year is five rate hikes. It was four before yesterday's rate meeting.”
At its two-day meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Open Market Committee of the Fed left the previous interest rate level of between 0.0 and 0.25 unchanged, but at the same time announced an imminent rate hike.
With inflation well above 2% and a strong labor market, the committee believes it will soon be appropriate to raise interest rates.
The massive bond purchases started because of the corona pandemic should therefore expire at the beginning of March.
In addition to the Fed's decision, numerous balance sheets also dominated market activity.
Deutsche Bank ended 2021 with a net profit for the second straight year after a series of losses.
The shares were at the top of the Dax with a plus of 2.8 percent.
On the other hand, SAP found itself on the losing side with a price minus of 6.2 percent.
The software giant confirmed the quarterly figures published on January 13, as well as the outlook for the current fiscal year.