Wall Street Selloff Grips Global Markets

Thursday,   11-Oct-2018   03:41 PM (IST)

Stock markets around the world plunged, continuing steep losses seen in the previous session, as mounting fears about global economic growth and ongoing trade tensions rattled investor confidence.The selloff started on Wall Street on Wednesday, with both the Dow and S&P 500 posting their biggest one-day drops since early February, while the Nasdaq notched its largest single day selloff since June 24, 2016.Things then spread to Asia overnight, with all major indices on the continent witnessing major drops.In China, the Shanghai Composite fell 5.2%, its worst day since February 2016, while the Shenzhen Composite plunged 6.3%. Japan's markets also faltered. The Nikkei 225 dropped by about 4%.The downbeat mood then gripped Europe, where shares fell to their lowest level in more than 20 months. All of the region's major bourses were trading in the red, with tech stocks bearing the brunt of the selling pressure.On Wall Street, U.S. stock index futures tanked ahead of Thursday's open.The blue-chip Dow futures were down 260 points, or about 1%, the S&P 500 futures shed 24 points, or around 0.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a decline of 54 points, or roughly 0.8%.