Following staggering drops in Japan’s Nikkei and Bitcoin, European banks are tumbling to March lows

Stock markets went into a meltdown on Monday amid fears that the US could be heading for a recession, pushing investors into panic-selling mode, market data shows.

The US has seen an unexpected rise in the unemployment rate, according to July payrolls report unveiled on Friday. This led to markets betting on the Federal Reserve cutting rates in September by a full 50 basis points, and sparked debate among economists about the overall health of the US economy, with its enormous influence in the global financial market.

US stocks closed sharply down on Friday, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite falling into correction, but Monday kicked off with new drops.