Major stock markets around the world have been a sea of red on continuing concerns over the impact of soaring inflation.
The UK's top share index, the FTSE 100, sank lower yesterday after traders digested the latest dramatic UK inflation figures, which stoked fears of a recession later this year.
Inflation in the country has rocketed to 9% last month on the back of a surge in energy prices.
The FTSE 100 ended the day down 80.26 points, or 1.07%, at 7,438.09 points.
And the index got off to a bad start this morning, down by another 51 points shortly after opening.
On the other side of the Atlantic, US shares saw their biggest one-day drop on Wednesday since 2020 after downbeat earnings reports from some of America's biggest retailers.
Target said unexpectedly-high fuel and freight costs had cut into profits, which halved compared with a year ago.
That followed a similarly downbeat update from rival Walmart earlier.
The S&P 500 index, which tracks shares of a wide swathe of America's biggest companies, plunged more than 4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 3.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 4.7%.
The declines added to weeks of declines on US financial markets.
Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital in New York, said: "What people are worried about after seeing Target is, will more earnings (estimates) have to be taken down?
"Consumer sentiment is at multi-year lows, and tied at the hip with inflation. So people are looking for signs of inflation moderating - and Target did not give them any today."
In the US, the annual rate of inflation last month was 8.3%.
The BBC reports that Target's update sent its shares plunging 25% - the biggest decline in more than three decades.
The announcements from Target and Walmart were closely watched for signs of how consumer spending was holding up in the world's largest economy with inflation at 40-year highs.
Target said sales at stores open for at least a year were up more than 3% in the three months to May compared to 2021. But executives said that, as prices rise, shoppers are spending more on essentials and cutting back on discretionary items, such as TVs.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures were up 1.4% at $110.61 a barrel earlier this morning.
Companies reporting today
- Full-year results: Great Portland Estates, Investec, National Grid, Royal Mail, Young & Co's Brewery Group
- Half-year results: Countryside Partnerships, easyJet, Euromoney Institutional Investor
- Fourth-quarter results: QinetiQ Group
- Trading statements: Essentra, Fevertree, Tyman, Watches of Switzerland Group