And now?
After two days of high price losses, the German stock market has stabilized slightly.
The standard value index Dax started Tuesday trading with a minimal plus and was quoted at around 13,500 points shortly after the stock market opened.
In fact, the mood among investors is currently tending to be gloomy, and not only in Germany: in the past few weeks, prices around the world have fallen sharply.
One reason is the fear of interest rates rising more quickly, especially in the United States, where the rate of inflation increased again last week to well over 8 percent – this is the highest level in 40 years.
The monetary authorities will meet in Washington on Wednesday to decide on monetary policy.
It is now also considered possible that they could even raise the key interest rate by 0.75 percentage points and thus more than recently expected.
Wall Street prices fell sharply on Friday.
And on Monday, too, they decreased substantially.
The shares of technology companies were once again under pressure: Their selection index Nasdaq 100 reached its lowest level since November 2020 and ultimately lost 4.60 percent to 11,288.32 points.
The market-wide S&P 500 closed after its lowest level since March 2021 with a minus of 3.88 percent at 3749.63 points.
Compared to the record high in January, this also means a decline of well over 20 percent, which means that the stock market barometer signals a bear market according to the usual definition.
The leading index Dow Jones Industrial lost 2.79 percent to 30,516.74 points.
At times it was at its lowest level since February 2021 - the recovery in the second half of May has fizzled out.
JP Morgan: price slide of the past few days exaggerated
There is nervousness, "because in addition to the inflation dynamic, there are also signs of a decline in consumption.
That would hit the economy twice and lead to economic downturns," said Andreas Lipkow from the Comdirect.
In addition, the burgeoning Covid issue in China is getting on nerves of investors.
"In New York there is (also) the fear that large-cap technology stocks such as Tesla and Apple, which from a technical point of view have not yet developed a trend reversal formation, will also turn around," added market analyst Jochen Stanzl from broker CMC Markets.
In contrast, the market strategists at the US bank JPMorgan around Marko Kolanovi consider the price slide of the past few days to be exaggerated.
The significant losses and the “sell-off” in cryptocurrencies already more than adequately priced in a recession risk.
The experts are counting on a positive surprise from the currency watchdogs and a price recovery in the second half of the year.
This is supported by continued strong consumption, the economy being freed from the restrictions of the corona pandemic and economic stimulus measures in China.
They advise investors to focus primarily on stocks that are now comparatively low in valuations, such as particularly innovative companies, companies with a strong exposure to China, smaller companies and biotech.