Dow Jones to crash: Wall St in panic already

Stock crashes in Asian and European markets yesterday, accelerating a freefall on world share prices, are set to open Wall St to panic today.

Trading in US shares escaped the 5-15% losses that hit stock exchanges around the world yesterday, due to being closed for Martin Luther King day.

However, as volatility continues, and the realisation that the US is indeed in recession, the New York Stock Exchange is strongly expected to see huge falls in trading Tuesday.

ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures were already sharply down at the end of European trading, by more than 500 points, suggesting the NYSE will open to a rout, and it simply remains to be seen how badly US stocks will crash.

We’re also going to see earnings reports from Bank of America, Wachovia, and Ambac, and little optimism from them.

A low end fall of 5% would still wipe out over 600 points from the Dow Jones industrial average, but a fall towards 10% - a cumulative figure reflecting combined Asian losses over 2 days - could see trading halted.

In the meantime, stock markets in Europe remain very volatile, with the FTSE 100 losing nearly 250 points in opening trades, before recovering and now vacillating around its original opening figure.

However, expected sharp falls on Wall St are likely to badly impact on trading around the world.

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