Fears of an economic downturn sent the German stock market plummeting on Tuesday.

In the early afternoon, a significantly weaker opening on Wall Street increased the pressure again.

The market-wide FAZ index lost 2.4 percent to 2040 points, falling to its lowest level since the Corona crisis.

The standard value index Dax fell by 2.5 percent to 12,457 points and thus the lowest level since November 2020.

The leading index of the euro zone, the Euro Stoxx 50, fell by 2.2 percent.

Shares in economically sensitive companies in particular came under pressure.

The share prices of the armaments companies Rheinmetall and Hensoldt fell by more than 10 percent, the prices of the fertilizer and engine manufacturers K+S and MTU by around 8 percent.

The listing of the semiconductor industry supplier Aixtron fell by around 9 percent.

The course of the ailing energy group Uniper was again under pressure after a minus of 27 percent the previous day with a loss of more than 9 percent.

The euro fell to its lowest level in almost 20 years and was last listed at $ 1.0292.

The dollar index, which reflects the exchange rate of the American currency against other important currencies, rose by up to 1.4 percent and, at 106.60 points, was as high as it was almost 20 years ago.

The euro depreciated below parity against the Swiss franc – most recently the euro was only worth 99.28 centimes.

Wall Street also opened clearly in the red after the extended weekend due to Independence Day.

Shortly after trading began, the S&P 500 index fell almost 2 percent to 3,747 points, and the Nasdaq 100 technology stock index lost 1.7 percent to 11,399 points.

American government bonds were in demand.

The yield on the 10-year bond fell to 2.811 percent.

"Recession concerns are dominating the market," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at research house CFRA.

"The decisive question now is how disappointing the figures for the second quarter and the outlook will be in view of the cooling economy." Leisure stocks are under massive pressure.

The share prices of the cruise lines Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian fell by 5 to 6 percent.

Tesla gave up almost 4 percent.

The electric car maker has announced a decline in quarterly sales for the first time in two years.

He does expect demand to recover in the second half of the year, said analyst Garret Nelson from research house CFRA.

However, the new plants in Brandenburg and Austin reduced profits because their capacity utilization has so far been low.