Major Wall Street indexes on Monday have tumbled as fears of a US recession intensified. The drop came amidst a global market selloff that also affected markets in Europe and Asia.

According to a report that appeared on the BBC, weaker-than-expected economic data from the US, including a jobs report that was released on Friday last week, fueled speculation that the world’s largest economy is slowing down, pushing the markets into a free fall.

Japan’s Nikkei plummeted to its biggest fall by points in history while in London, the FTSE 100 index fell by 2.8 per cent. Stock markets in Taiwan, South Korea, India, Australia, Hong Kong and Shanghai all tumbled.

Cryptocurrency bitcoin took a tumble on Monday, dropping to near-six-month lows and ending months of gains as investors once again turn away from the crypto market.

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Bitcoin fell to a daily low of $49,443 Monday morning, a 15 per cent drop and its lowest point since late February, before rising narrowly to just over $53,800.

Competing cryptocurrencies also tumbled Monday morning, with Ethereum falling over 11 per cent to just over $2,386, a six-month low, while dogecoin fell over 10 per cent to a six-month low just below 10 cents.

However, the losses appeared to ease off as the day progressed. According to a report by the CNN, the Dow was 750 points, or 1.9 per cent lower. The S&P 500 declined 2.1 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.5 per cent. The VIX, known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, was at roughly 34 after surging to 65 earlier Monday.

The CNN further reported that stocks were still substantially lower on Monday morning but off their lowest levels of the day.

“The Dow fell 866 points, or 2.2 per cent, after nosediving more than 1,000 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 fell 2.5 per cent after falling more than 4 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite was 3 per cent lower after tumbling more than 6 per cent,” the CNN reported.