The Dax continues to fall in the afternoon and the tailwind from America has also died down.

The day before the interest rate decision by the European Central Bank (ECB), the Dax continued its weakness from the previous day. The leading German index fell by 0.68 percent to 14,457.45 points in the afternoon. The MDax lost 0.85 percent to 30,133.07 points. The Eurozone barometer EuroStoxx 50 lost half a percent.

There was tailwind from Wall Street, which had risen significantly the evening before after the European end of trading, only in the morning. Most recently, the leading US stock exchanges were also heading for a somewhat weaker start.

Strong economic growth in the euro zone

The leeway that the ECB has in balancing inflation and economic risks was underpinned by robust economic data on Wednesday. While German industry increased production only slightly in April, economic growth in the euro zone in the first quarter was twice as strong as previously assumed.

The euro bounced back above the $1.07 mark, last trading at $1.0729. The European Central Bank had set the reference rate at $1.0662 the day before.

On the bond market, the current yield rose from 1.18 percent on the previous day to 1.22 percent. The Rex pension index fell by 0.19 percent to 133.66 points. The Bund future lost 0.13 percent to 149.00 points.