Afternoon Markets: Dow dives on recovery fears

The Dow Jones was rapidly approaching a 2% drop in early trading on Monday on fears the recent rally may have been overdone.

Concerns first appeared following Friday's dismal US consumer confidence data which has impacted world indices including the Nikkei in Japan and the FTSE 100. The Wall Street index is currently down 175.63 points (1.88%) at 9,140.63 points. The downside has been fairly indiscriminate so far with no particular sector singled out, although pharmaceuticals, traditionally a defensive sector, seems to be benefiting from a flight to safety. Aluminium producer Alcoa has dropped 6.56% to $12.40 while Home Depot has shed 4.72% to $25.86. Elsewhere, American Express fell 4.6% to $30.26 and B...