Global Stocks Skid Amid Recession Fears

(NEWSER) - Stocks took a big plunge at the open today, with the Dow down 411 points, after a morning that saw Dow and S&P futures fall so far that trading was halted. Driving the pessimism were similar plunges overseas, with the Nikkei down 9.6%, and London’s FTSE down more than 8%, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Everyone is staring at their screens in disbelief,” said one London strategist. More»

Big Blue's outlook erases some gloom

(NEWSER) - After five straight trading days of losses, investors may have regained a touch of confidence as markets in Asia and Europe bounced back from their beatings today, reports Bloomberg. The rebound, fueled in part by IBM’s reaffirmation of its profit forecast, comes after the worst five-day selloff since 1987. “IBM's numbers show that it's not all doom and gloom out there,” said one expert. More»

German, French indexes drop more than 3%; Asian stocks down at close

(NEWSER) - European stock markets opened markedly lower today over continued misgivings about the situation in the US and Europe, the New York Times reports. Germany’s main index fell 3.9% this morning, while France’s fell 3.4%—on the heels of yesterday's 5% drop; Britain’s benchmark index was down 2.8%. Meanwhile, Asian stocks tumbled, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 closing down 2.5%, South Korea’s Kospi falling 6.2%, and Tawain’s Taiex dropping 3.6%. In Australia, the market closed down 3.5%. More»

Investors starting to panic that nobody has answers

(NEWSER) - What's behind the market meltdown? Some on-the-fly observations:

• Ezra Klein, Washington Post : The market is "diving because of forces Washington can’t control, and in many cases, doesn’t understand very well. How many members of Congress do you think could give a coherent account of what has happened to oil or steel prices over the last three years? Or what’s happening in the Eurozone? Or to the yuan?" Nobody knows where the recovery will come from, and the markets are reflecting that panic.

British MP calls American default 'next big iceberg' for economy

(NEWSER) - With America's $14.3 billion potential default just nine days away, markets are growing increasingly spooked by the rising danger, reports the Telegraph . “We may have a few stressful days coming up—stressful for the markets of the world and the American people,” says White House chief of staff Bill Daley. Analysts blamed those worries for sending Asian markets down today , with the China's Shanghai Composite Index off 2.7%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 down 1.4%, and Japan's Nikkei, Korea's KOSPI, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index all declining 0.8%. More»