European stock market plunge, Nasdaq rebounds

A sharply negative day for Europe’s major stock markets, while Wall Street shows mixed signals, with the Nasdaq moving against the trend of other U.S. indexes. The European markets are deep in the red, marking one of the worst trading sessions of the year.

The main indexes are recording heavy losses. As of 3:50 PM, the FTSE MIB (Italy) stands at 32,628 points, down -3.06%, with an intraday high of 33,143 and a low of 32,179. DAX (Germany) drops -3.20% to 19,607 points after reaching a high of 20,026. CAC 40 (France) loses 3.42%, falling to 6,857 points. FTSE 100 (UK) retreats by 3.22% to 7,655 points. AEX (Netherlands) sinks -3.60% to 794.21 points. SMI (Switzerland) is the worst performer among continental indexes, tumbling -4.67% to 10,856 points. The Euro Stoxx 50, a pan-European benchmark, falls -3.36% to 4,613 points.

Meanwhile, Wall Street holds up thanks to the Nasdaq, though the Dow Jones and S&P 500 are in the red. The Dow Jones slips 0.49% to 37,462 points after peaking at 38,004. The S&P 500 declines 0.53%, closing at 4,956 points. The Nasdaq Composite is the only major U.S. index in positive territory, up 0.28% to 15,310 points. The Russell 2000 drops 1.41%, falling sharply to 1,735 points. Volatility remains high, as shown by the VIX index, which stays above the 50 mark at 52.08, slightly down -0.31%.