US markets follow Europe downwards as fears mount over global growth
The US markets have opened lower today, following massive sell offs in Europe that’s seen the German Dax fall over three per cent to under 9,000, and the Greek stock market hit 25 year lows, down 6.7 per cent today, adding to its fifth consecutive day of losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial average opened down over half a per cent at 16,101.35, while the tech heavy Nasdaq began the day down by one and a half per cent at 4,290.71.
The S&P 500 was trading down one per cent at 1,862.31 at the open.
In premarket trading US stock futures pointed sharply lower, as investors digest lower than expected economic numbers from China and nervousness builds over Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's testimony to Congress over the state of the US economy on Wednesday.
Yellen will be speaking as the outlook for the global economy continues to darken and fears rise over the risk of the US falling into recession.
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The Fed voted to raise interest rates at the end of last year for the first time since 2006 and had forecast four more rises throughout 2016, though Fed watchers think this increasingly unlikely.
The next interest rate rise had been pencilled in for March but following global sell offs market expectations for a rise are low.
The US markets are still feeling the hangover today from a massive drop in technology stocks on Friday, after mixed US employment data further hampered expectations of rates rising.