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Financial center Frankfurt:
Concerns about inflation and the economy are sending the Dax down on the stock exchange
Photo: dpa/dpaweb
New setback for the Dax: After a brief attempt to recover, the leading German index Dax dived again on Wednesday.
The index recorded a minus of 1.6 percent to 13,085 points in early trading and threatens to fall below the 13,000 mark again.
The EuroStoxx 50, the leading index in the eurozone, also came under pressure.
The US stock exchanges had risen the previous day, but US futures continued to fall on Wednesday.
The mood remains fragile with concerns about inflation and the economy.
Following the US Federal Reserve's highest interest rate hike since 1994, the speech by Fed chief
Jerome Powell
(69) before the Senate Banking Committee should attract particular attention.
US stock markets up significantly after the holiday break
After the long weekend due to the bank holiday, the US stock market continued to stabilize on Tuesday.
Stockbrokers warn, however, that this could only be an interim recovery in a longer downtrend on the stock exchanges.
The Dow Jones Industrial climbed back above the 30,000 mark in early trading and closed more than 2 percent up at 30,530 points.
The market-wide S&P 500 gained 2.5 percent to 3,765 points.
The technology stock-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 2.5 percent to 11,547 points.
Losses on Asian stock exchanges
In Asia, equity markets were mostly down on Wednesday.
In Japan, the leading index Nikkei 225 recently fell slightly after the strong gains of the previous day.
Around an hour before the end of trading, it was down almost 0.1 percent at 26,224 points.
The CSI 300 index with the 300 most important companies on the Chinese mainland recently lost around half a percent.
In the Hong Kong SAR, the technology-heavy Hang Seng index lost around one and a half percent in late trading.
Bitcoin falls again
The world's best-known digital currency, Bitcoin, continues to be under pressure.
On the Bitstamp trading platform, it was last listed at 20,358 US dollars, losing more than 3 percent compared to the previous day.
Bitcoin hit a record high of $69,000 in November last year.
Oil prices fall to one-month lows
Oil prices fell to their lowest levels in about a month in early trading on Wednesday.
In the morning, a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent cost $110.75.
That was $3.90 less than the day before.
The price of a barrel of the US WTI variety fell by $4.08 to $105.44.
Recession fears were cited as the reason on the market.
At the moment, oil prices are a good 40 percent higher than at the beginning of the year.
The main reasons are Russia's war against Ukraine and sanctions from predominantly Western countries.
Russia is one of the world's largest oil suppliers.
With news agencies