Resurgent fears of a recession in the United States apparently triggered profit-taking on the stock market on Thursday.

The 15,000 point mark in the Dax now seems to be wobbling again.

In any case, the leading German index fell below this around midday and had fallen by 1.3 percent to 14,989 points by then.

The M-Dax for medium-sized companies even fell by 1.9 percent to 28,266 points.

On Wednesday evening here, the Dow Jones Index in America had already lost 1.8 percent, the market-wide S&P 500 around 1.6 percent and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite 1.2 percent.

The first signs of braking had already become noticeable in the past few days, and the European stock markets as a whole also fell more sharply on Thursday.

The Euro Stoxx 50 fell in trading by 1.4 percent to 4114 points.

France's Cac 40 was down 1.4 percent to 6982 points, while Britain's FTSE 100 fared slightly better, down 0.8 percent to 7766 points.

Market analyst Jochen Stanzl of CMC Markets wrote that the previous day's data on industrial production and retail sales in the USA had brought back concerns about a contraction in the world's largest economy.

Since at the same time the increase in producer prices weakened surprisingly sharply in December, according to Stanzl the US Federal Reserve should see confirmation that it is reducing the pace of its interest rate hikes at the beginning of February, "but not suspending its tightening of monetary policy, since the labor market stays tight".

In addition, Japan's economy exported fewer goods to China for the first time in seven months.

"This also fuels fears of a further slowdown in the global economy," said Stanzl.

Time for a breather

However, after the German stock exchange barometer had already increased by 9 percent since the beginning of the year, it was time for a breather and healthy consolidation, Martin Utschneider, technical chart analyst at private bank Donner & Reuschel, remains optimistic.

"And as long as the 15,000-point mark holds, nothing will go wrong in a consolidation," added portfolio manager Thomas Altmann from QC Partners.

The closing level in the Dax on this day is therefore important.

Among the 40 values ​​​​in the leading German index, the shares of the tire manufacturer and automotive supplier Continental continued to suffer from the weak margins published on Tuesday evening and the clearly missed target for the free cash flow in 2022. After price losses of around 3 percent on Wednesday, it was now 5.3 percent at times down to last place in the Dax.

Meanwhile, at the top of the Dax, Beiersdorf's shares rose by around 1 percent to a good 111 euros.

Analyst Fulvio Cazzol from the private bank Berenberg raised his price target from 120 to 144 euros and confirmed his “buy” rating.

Beiersdorf was already one of the best among the stocks he rated in 2022 and will remain one of his "top picks" in the household and personal care sector.

The new leadership team, improved operational set-up and investment ambitions underpinned his confidence in the company, he wrote.

Henkel, on the other hand, lost 1.1 percent.

Dealers referred primarily to the competitor HB Fuller.

The US adhesives group had disappointed with its fourth quarter and the outlook, among other things, due to high raw material costs and a strong US dollar.

According to traders, a "mixed quarterly report" including the statements on the new financial year weighed on the shares of the Linux specialist Suse in the S-Dax.

They lost 3.1 percent.

It went down even more clearly for the papers from Auto1, which at times dropped by around 13 percent in price.

After the French investment bank Exane BNP Paribas canceled its buy recommendation the day before, the US bank Goldman Sachs followed suit.

Encavis also suffered from a downgrade and lost almost 11 percent in the MDax.

The investment bank Stifel Europe canceled its buy recommendation for the shares of the investor in renewable energies.

Analyst Martin Tessier expects the pipeline to be reduced by about a third.

There were also project delays.

He therefore recommends waiting for the presentation of the next strategic plan, as he sees little potential for raising the capacity target for 2025.

The day before, Barclays analysts had criticized the high valuation of the stock and downgraded it to "underweight".