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Despite today being Martin Luther King day in the United States and the US markets being closed to mark the holiday, that didn’t stop the world markets from suffering some of the biggest single day losses in recent years. Investors around the world are beginning a panic sell-off, weary of news that the US economy is headed for recession or a major economic slowdown.

Brokers and dealers on the world markets claimed the spark for the global meltdown was an overall disappointment at US President George W. Bush’s tax plan to revive the world’s largest economy. Following heavy losses in Asian trade, the European markets opened lower and then went lower again in the course of the afternoon as investors opted for safety and took their money out. In London, the FTSE 100 index plunged a whalloping 5.48 percent to 5,578.20 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 index lost 6.83 percent to 4,744,45 points and in Frankfurt the DAX shed 7.16 percent to 6,790.19 points, with both the French and German markets seeing the biggest single day losses since the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States.

The Toronto stock market took a massive hit of more than 600 points Monday before recovering slightly in the afternoon, as analysts showed concern about economic troubles south of the border. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 617 points, before climbing slightly back by 3:30 p.m. to a deficit of 562.12 points at 12,175. Last week’s losses of 6.6 per cent wiped out the TSX’s entire gains for 2007.

Blue chip stocks lead the declines in most markets, dragging major indexes in Hong Kong, Shanghai and India down by more than 5 percent during the day, while those in South Korea and Australia fell by nearly 3 percent. In Japan, which itself may be facing a new recession, the majority of indexes were off by more than 3 percent. Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai’s Composite Index closed down 5.1 percent at 4,914.44, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 5.5 percent to 23,818.86. Again, the biggest fall since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

In the United States, with market pessimism at heights not seen in years, it is certainly possible the market is near its bottom. But there are few investors eager to bet on when stocks will resume their climb, and how long it will be before new records are reached again. The Dow is now 14.6 percent below its Oct. 9 record close of 14,164.53, and is less than 100 points away from slipping beneath the 12,000 mark, which it first surpassed in October 2006.

Will the resume of trading on Tuesday will bring some very interesting results on the US Markets? You can bet on it.