Stock markets plunged on Thursday (4 August) to levels last seen in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis, amid worsening concerns about the US economy and Europe's capacity to overcome their debt problems.
Wall Street recorded its worst day since December 2008, with the Dow Jones index closing down by 4.3 percent. Markets in London, Frankfurt and Milan fell by 3 to 5 percent. The drops came after the European Central Bank started buying government bonds from Portugal and Ireland. The move did little to allay fears that the debt crisis could engulf the core eurozone, however. German chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero have also announced a snap teleconference on Friday. Italy and Spain's bond yields passed the six-percent threshold this week, meaning that their debt is considered unsustainable in the long run. Madrid on Thursday decided to suspend a bond sale planned for 18 August, even though it claimed this has nothing to do with current market turbulence. EU monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn is set to speak to journalists on Friday "on current developments in the eurozone." Both his supe...