Stocks fell on Wall St on Friday after Bank of America, Citigroup and General Electric all reported disappointing sales.
A decline in consumer sentiment also weighed upon the market.
A survey by the University of Michigan showed that consumer sentiment in July fell to levels last seen in March 2009, adding to doubts on the strength of the US economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Index was down 261 points to close at 10,098. The Nasdaq Composite was down 70 points to 2,179.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index in London was down 1%, the DAX in Frankfurt was down 1.8% and the CAC-40 in Paris was down 2.3%.
Earlier, in Toyko, the Nikkei was down 277 points to 9408.
Across the Tasman, the Australian 200 was down 20 points, or 0.5%, at 4423.
The NZX50 was down 17 points, or 0.6%, to close at 2986 on turnover of $51 million.
At 8.25am on Monday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 72.91 US cents, 82.55 Australian cents, 47.12 pence, 63.70 yen and 0.5627 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 68.40.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US76.50 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1193.10 per ounce.
