German shares halted the rally on Wednesday on dismal exports data. Germany's exports dropped by 1.5% in June on a monthly basis. The downgrade of Greece's outlook also pushed stocks lower. However, hopes that the ECB will loosen its monetary policy to avoid recession restricted the downswing. German DAX 30 Index retreated by 0.75% to trade at 6,919.15 at the time of writing. All sectors except for technology slid. Consumer services and utilities created notable pressure on the German equity index. Deutsche Lufthansa posted the largest drop of 4.52%. Among utilities, E.ON and RWE sank 1.17% and 1.45% after Tuesday's rally.