Dow Drops 900 Points As Global Markets Retreat

Nearly everything on Wall Street tumbled Monday as fears about a slowing U.S. economy worsened, setting off another sell-off in financial markets around the world, Stan Choe reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Fears have been raised that the Federal Reserve may have over-tightened the economy with high interest rates to stifle inflation.

The S&P 500 was down 3.1% in morning trading, coming off its worst week in more than three months.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 956 points, or 2.4%, as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern Time, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 4%. The declines were part of a global sell-off. Japan's Nikkei 225 started Monday by plunging 12.4% for its worst day since the Black Monday crash of 1987.

South Korea's Kospi index fell 8.8%, stock markets across Europe sank more than 2%, and Bitcoin dropped 9.5%. Even gold, typically seen as a safe haven during tumultuous times, slipped 1.4%.

It was the first chance for traders in Tokyo to react to Friday's report showing that U.S. employers slowed their hiring last month much more than economists had expected.

This was the latest piece of data on the U.S. economy to come in weaker than anticipated, raising fears that the Federal Reserve may have over-tightened the economy with high interest rates in an effort to stifle inflation, Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott also reported for AP.