Stocks fall on worries over global economy

SHARES are tumbling around the world on more signs of economic weakness. In the US, the government says more people filed for unemployment benefits last week than were expected. And there are signs that inflation is rising - consumers paid more last month for petrol, food and clothes. The Dow Jones industrial average at one point was down more than 500 points. It's now down 436 at 10,973. All the major market indexes are down more than 4 per cent. Asian markets started the worldwide drop. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.3 per cent after the country said its exports fell 3.3 per cent in July from a year earlier. Today's drop in stocks marks a return to the volatility that sent the market plunging the first two weeks of August. Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.