Bad news from the pharmaceutical and automotive industries caused a bad mood on the German stock market on Thursday. The Dax lost 0.76 percent in early trading to 15,773.78 points. The MDax of the 50 medium-sized stocks fell by 0.71 percent to 27,693.67 points. The leading eurozone index, the EuroStoxx 50, held up slightly better at minus 0.35 percent.

There was already bad news from the pharmaceutical and automotive industries before the stock market went public. On the one hand, according to marketers, the laboratory specialist Sartorius disappointed across the board with the report for the first quarter. The share contained in the Dax fell by ten percent to its lowest level since December 2022. In its wake, the shares of Merck KGaA also lost 2.6 percent. The Darmstadt-based company is also active in the laboratory business.

In addition, Tesla, a car manufacturer, disappointed with its quarterly figures. Analysts criticized the unexpectedly weak profitability, which was the focus of the market. Tesla shares fell by six percent on Xetra. In Paris, Renault also lost almost six percent. After the quarterly report from the French, concerns about imminent price reductions for electric cars spread across the market – not least in view of the consequences of Tesla’s price discounts.

Faced with this bad news, investors avoided the automotive sector: Porsche, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Continental all fell by two to three percent. The car titles also weighed heavily on the leading index Dax.

Among the small caps, Shop Apotheke lost 1.7 percent. Dealers referred to the high customer losses of the Swiss competitor Zur Rose, whose shares in Zurich lost more than three percent.