Hong Kong/London (CNN) — Japanese stocks suffered their biggest ever daily loss Monday as fears about a US economic slowdown sent shock waves through global markets.
The Nikkei 225 index of leading stocks in Tokyo lost a staggering 4,451 points, its biggest drop in history. The index closed more than 12% down, taking its losses since early July to 25% and entering bear market territory.
“That was a crash. It smelled like 1987,” Neil Newman, head of strategy at Astris Advisory in Tokyo, told CNN. He was referring to “Black Monday” in October 1987, when global markets plunged and the Nikkei lost 3,836 points.
Fears of a sharp slowdown in the US economy have raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will have to slash interest rates. Coming as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) takes its interest rates higher to contain inflation, that is boosting the value of the yen against the US dollar and making Japanese …