European shares further declined on Monday amid mounting concerns about a global recession.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index ended 2.6% lower at 837.41 points. The index is down more than 44% to date this year.
Banking shares and mining companies were down.
Sentiment worsened after reports that Japan, the world's second-largest economy, is now in recession.
The euro zone is also in formal recession, with two consecutive quarters of contraction.
Across Europe: Germany's DAX lost 3.3% and France's CAC fell 3.4%. In Britain, the FTSE 100 fell 2.7%.
On Wall Street, by 1:30pm, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 62.69 points, or 0.74%, at 8,434.62.
Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 4.84 points, or 0.55%, at 868.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 10.36 points, or 0.68%, at 1,506.49.
Other markets
In Australia, the market closed down 2.5% on Monday.
The S&P/ASX200 index was down 95.1 points, or 2.54%, at 3,653, while the All Ordinaries index lost 86.5 points, or 2.32%, to 3639.5.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index futures contract was 62 points lower to 3,695 on a volume of 28,232 contracts.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 index slipped 25 points to 2741 on turnover of $47 million.
Telecom closed down 1 cent to $2.42; Contact Energy remained unchanged at $7.25, and Fletcher Building dipped 13c to $5.64.
Rakon lost 14c to close at $1.11. Infratil lost 3c to $1.81 after its half-year results.
The New Zealand dollar was trading at US55.37 cents, 85.49 Australian cents, 37.48 pence, 53.99 yen and 0.4398 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was 56.76.
