Stock traders brace for another wild ride

Traders prepared for a wild ride Tuesday as stock markets around the world responded to Monday’s steep decline in U.S. markets. The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 1,150 points Monday, its biggest decline in 6½ years. The selloff prompted fears the economic recovery had come to a screeching halt after years of record market growth. But analysts say U.S. economic fundamentals remain strong, prompting questions about what caused the sudden flurry of trading. Monday’s losses erased the year’s gains, but because stock prices are at record highs, the sell-off amounted to only a 4.6 percent drop. The September 2008 sell-off that signaled the start to the Great Recession amounted to a 7 percent decline, even though the market dropped only 777 points. Still, the volatility sent shockwaves through world markets, which all followed the U.S. lead in Tuesday trading. Tokyo’s Nikkei suffered the most, ending 4.7 percent lower by the end of trading. European markets experienced only about half that loss.