Share prices continued to weaken on international markets, with further falls in Wall Street the main factor driving prices lower. The Dow's losses continued to be led by Boeing after the world's biggest aerospace company said it would cut an additional 20,000 jobs and would cut back on production.
ING Barings analyst Mr Sam Pearlstein said Wall Street knew cuts were coming but was surprised by how deep they will go.
Earlier, European shares retreated again, hurt by profit warnings and the weaker start on Wall Street.
A rally in European stocks fizzled out as investors, licking wounds from the previous day's big losses, sold more shares as the Dow Industrials Average fell over 100 points in the first hour of trade.
Losses of near four per cent by US blue chips in the past week are seen as a symptom of reduced appetite for risk among investors. This has hurt the dollar, which hit two week lows against the deutschmark yesterday, as the US is seen as being heavily reliant on foreign capital to finance its current account deficit, analysts said.
In London, the FTSE-100 index fell for the third successive day, weighed down by losses on Wall Street and with retailers hit by a gloomy trading update from Arcadia, Britain's second biggest clothing chain. European markets were also weaker with Frankfurt 1.4 per cent lower.
The Irish stock market was one of the few exceptions to the negative mood and the ISEQ was up 1.3 per cent on the back of what was seen as a market-friendly Budget.
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