The sell-off is widening in stock markets across the globe, amid fears of a recession in the world’s largest economy. Friday’s U.S. jobs data disappointed economists as hiring slowed last month by much more than expected. Unemployment at the same time increased, for the fourth consecutive month, to 4.3%.

Stocks in free fall – New sell-off in America

On Monday morning, the stock markets in Tokyo, Seoul and Taiwan were in free fall, affected by the negative American macroeconomic data. In Japan, the Nikkei closed down 12.82%, the biggest daily drop in its history. The Topix index lost 10.49% to 2,271.33 points, in Taiwan the Taiex index fell 8.43% to 19,813.83 points, while the KOSPI in Seoul fell 8.09%.

The American indices were in the deep red from the beginning of the session. The Dow Jones lost 1,179 points, or 2.7%, with the Nasdaq down 4.7% and the S&P 500 down 3.5%.

Stocks from the artificial intelligence sector remain in the focus of sellers, while “negative” protagonists with the worst losses are stocks from the technology sector.

In this context, Nvidia shares fell 9.6%, with Apple shares falling more than 5% following the news that Warren Buffett sold half of his stake in the tech giant.

Tesla shares are down more than 10%, while Broadcom and Super Micro Computer are down 7% and 12%, respectively.

Sell-off in Athens as well

The sell-off of the foreign markets was followed by the Athens Stock Exchange. The General Index closed at 1,341.23 points with losses of 6.26%, while during the session it lost up to 7.5%. The value of transactions amounted to 234.78 million euros, while the total market capitalization decreased by 5.938 billion euros.

The large-cap index fell 6.53%, while the mid-cap index fell 6.26%.

All high-cap stocks closed with losses, while the biggest fall was recorded by the shares of Ellactor (-9.18%), Piraeus (-9.17%), Aegean Airlines (-8.51%), Viohalco (-8.39%) and Mytileneos ( -8.31%).

Indicative of the prevailing negative climate is the fact that just one share closed with an increase (Paputsanis +0.85%), 112 closed with a decrease and 15 remained stable. The biggest drop was registered by the shares: Kordellos Brothers -11.64% and Geniki Emporiou -11.39%.

Fall in stock markets in Israel, Middle East due to fear of Iran – Turkey’s stock market down -7%

Stock markets in the Middle East also recorded strong losses, as concerns about a possible strike by Iran on Israel added to the bearish sentiment recorded in stocks worldwide.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is down 3.1% and is trading at its lowest levels since February, extending last week’s 3.3% drop (the biggest weekly drop since last October). The shekel fell 1% against the dollar to a 9-month low. The latest losses were triggered in part by a report by the website Axios that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his G7 counterparts that Iran and Hezbollah could attempt an attack as early as Monday.

However, regional markets are also being dragged down by the global selloff triggered by signs of a slowing US economy.

So, the Tadawul Index of Saudi Arabia; and Hermes index of Egypt, fell by 3.7% and 5.8% respectively. He was also in free fall the stock market index of Turkey which came to record losses of up to 7%.