After the Dow closed down by more than 600 points, Asian markets "plummeted" Tuesday morning surrounding growing fear of a global recession, The New York Times reports. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 4.7 percent by midmorning, while South Korea's Kospi fell by 7.4 percent. Markets in Australia fell 4.7 percent, in Hong Kong by seven percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 5.5 percent, Bloomberg reports. The Kospi fell by as much as 9 percent, The Wall Street Journal reports. The fall in American markets Monday was the worst day of trading since the height of the financial crisis in 2008. "The bears have come out of their hibernation. It is going to take some positive economic data…to stem the flow in the short term," an analyst told the Journal. 

"It’s pretty much become all about confidence now. Absent the noise of Europe and the S&P downgrade, the U.S. was on track for a slow and steady recovery," James Holt, an Australian investment manager, told Bloomberg. "You’re seeing how effectively confidence and perception is overtaking reality, and that’s the big risk now for stock-market investors."

Gold started trading at over $1,750 an ounce around midnight Tuesday. 

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