The global market rout has now wiped more than £10trillion off world stocks in the worst start to any year on record.
Business and consumer confidence have been collapsing amid surging inflation.
The Telegraph reports that the MSCI World Equity Index has shed more than 20% so far this year in the steepest first-half decline since its creation, led by a plunge in loss-making tech companies as investors panic over the end of ultra-low interest rates.
There are fears Britain will suffer the steepest recession in Europe.
This comes after official figures revealed that families in the UK have suffered the longest fall in disposable income ever, with a decline of 1.3% in the year to March 2022.
Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, told the Telegraph: "Although GDP and consumer spending won't fall as far as real incomes, it's pretty clear that the economy is going to be very weak for a while. A recession is a real risk."
The UK’s top share index, the FTSE 100, was well down yesterday.
Wall Street also suffered heavy losses on Thursday as fears of a slowdown were compounded by data showing that inflation-adjusted US consumer spending fell in May for the first time this year.
S&P 500 down 20% this year
The benchmark S&P 500 fell 0.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 1.3%. The S&P 500 has shed 20% so far this year, marking its worst first half of the year since 1970 and its worst performance over two quarters since the financial crisis in 2008.
The Nasdaq posted its biggest ever declines over the same period, losing nearly £4.5trillion in value.
Investor worries deepened this week as top central bankers reiterated their commitment to raise interest rates to tackle a surge in prices fuelled by Russia's war in Ukraine.
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, warned that Britain faces a faster and steeper downturn than other rich countries.
Market chaos has also spread to cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin racking up its biggest quarterly loss in more than a decade.
The 58% plunge in the world's biggest digital coin is the largest since the third quarter of 2011, when Bitcoin was still in its infancy, according to Bloomberg data.
The notoriously-volatile sector has suffered a torrid period as interest rates rise and investors flee riskier assets, while a string of high-profile crashes and a looming regulatory crackdown have fuelled fears of a "crypto winter".
FTSE 100
The FTSE 100 was up/down XXX points at XXXX shortly after opening this morning, following yesterday’s 143-point plunge on recession fears.
Brent crude futures were down 1.25% at $114.81 a barrel.
No FTSE 350 companies are due to report today.