Dow Drops 1,000 Points, And Japanese Stocks Suffer Worst Crash Since 1987 Amid U.S. Economy Worries

NEW YORK (AP) — A scary Monday that started with a plunge abroad reminiscent of 1987 ’s crash has swept around the world and pummeled Wall Street with more steep losses, as fears worsen about a slowing U.S. economy.

The S&P 500 was down by 3.1% in late trading and on track for its worst drop since 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was reeling by 1,009 points, or 2.5%, with a little more than an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite slid 3.8%.

The drops were just the latest in a global sell-off that began last week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 helped start Monday by plunging 12.4% for its worst day since the Black Monday crash of 1987.

It was the first chance for traders in Tokyo to react to Friday’s report showing U.S. employers slowed their hiring last month by much more than economists expected. That was the latest piece of data on the U.S. economy to come in weaker than expected, and it’s all raised fear the Federal Reserve has pressed the brakes on the U.S. economy by too much for too long through high interest rates in hopes of stifling inflation.

Professional investors cautioned that some technical factors could be amplifying the action in markets, and that the drops may be overdone, but the losses were still neck-snapping. South Korea’s Kospi index careened 8.8% lower, and bitcoin dropped below $54,000 from more than $61,000 on Friday.

Even gold, which has a reputation for offering safety during tumultuous times, slipped about 1%.

That’s in part because traders began wondering if the damage has been so severe that the Federal Reserve will have to cut interest rates in an emergency meeting, before its next scheduled decision on Sept. 18. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which closely tracks