New day of carnage for financial markets amid global sell-off

Global markets entered a new day of carnage Monday amid a continuing worldwide sell-off, extending last week’s meltdown and stoking new fears over how far financial markets will drop.

[World markets lose ground amid ‘Black Monday’ for Shanghai index]

The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted more than 1,000 points, or more than 6 percent, at its 9:30 a.m. open, for what could be its worst open since the global financial crisis.

The dismal opening marked a steep continuation of last week’s freefall. The blue-chip index plunged more than 500 points on Friday and entered what Wall Street calls a correction, having fallen 10 percent from its May peak.

The sell-off touched every industry, wiping out gains in rapid order from a mostly steady trading year. Some of America’s biggest companies have shed tens of billions of dollars in market value in only a few days, with no signs of when the bleeding could stop.

The stock drop was fueled by what China’s state media is already calling “Black Monday,” in which markets there recorded their biggest one-day plunge in eight years amid growing fears over an economic slowdown.

[Stock market plunge wipes out this year’s gains]

On Friday, China reported its worst manufacturing results since the global financial crisis, a new sign of woe for the world’s second-largest economy, which surprised investors last week by announcing that it would devalue its currency. The Shanghai Composite Index has fallen by nearly 40 percent since June, after soaring more than 140 percent last year.

Global oil prices continued to fall, and desire for U.S. Treasury bonds heated up as investors flocked to their safety nets. Yields for the 10-year bonds dropped below 2 percent for the first time since April.

This story was originally published August 24, 2015 at 9:47 AM with the headline "New day of carnage for financial markets amid global sell-off."