S&P 500 falls 4% and enters bear market

European stocks tumbled at Monday’s open, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index sinking 6.2 per cent, while Germany’s Dax plunged 10 per cent.

The FTSE 100 was down 5.6 per cent.

The moves followed steep falls in Asian markets after the administration of President Donald Trump gave no indication over the weekend that it would soften its sweeping new tariff regime.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led declines as it plunged 12.6 per cent, followed by a 9.7 per cent drop in Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex. Circuit breakers were triggered in Taiwan and South Korea as traders rushed to exit positions. China and Japan’s benchmark indices both fell more than 7 per cent.

Banks were among the hardest-hit stocks. Japan’s largest lender, MUFG, fell 10.3 per cent while HSBC plunged 15 per cent in Hong Kong. Singapore’s DBS dropped 9.6 per cent.

Government bonds rallied as investors moved into haven assets. Yields on the 10-year US Treasury fell as much as 0.13 percentage points to 3.87 per cent. The 10-year Japanese government bond yield dropped 0.08 percentage points to 1.12 per cent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

The yen rallied 0.9 per cent to trade at ¥145.6 a dollar. Gold and bitcoin both edged down.