FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – The Dax (DAX 40) gave way moderately on Thursday at the start. Investors held back somewhat ahead of the quarterly figures from large US banks, which were due around noon. A few minutes after the start of the stock exchange, the leading German index lost 0.31 percent to 12,717.34 points. The MDAX for medium-sized companies fell by 0.21 percent to 25,449.83 points. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 (EURO STOXX 50) fell by 0.48 percent to 3437.24 points.
The day before, the Dax had reacted visibly negatively to data on the still immensely high US inflation, but had significantly contained its losses by the end of trading. The US stock exchanges had also shown a similar development. They’ve held up pretty well despite bond markets increasingly pricing in an economic downturn, said market analyst Michael Hewson of CMC Markets UK. The stock markets are having a hard time finding direction. Hewson now sees the reaction to the figures from the US bank JPMorgan (JPMorgan ChaseCo) at noon as an important mood test. Its competitor Morgan Stanley also reports on its business development./gl/jha/