The biggest tumble in developing- nation stocks in 11 months is making investment strategists at Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Group AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said a U.S. economic recovery is "going to be a slow, trudging thing," and that he "would get very concerned" if stock prices continue to fall.
Stocks fell moderately in early trading Monday as investors remain wary about the strength of the economic recovery and mounting debt concerns in Europe.
The euro and growth-linked currencies fell Monday as investors unwound risky trades amid growing worries about eurozone's debt problems, dismissing assurances from European finance ministers at the weekend.
The threats seem to be coming from all directions. Jittery stock traders react to each day's news as if it could be the start of Financial Crisis 2.0. On Thursday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index suffered its biggest one-day drop in more than nine months because of worries about debt problems in Greece, Portugal and Spain.
The following stocks were among those that moved substantially or traded heavily Friday on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market: NYSE: Air Products & Chemicals Inc., down $5.05 at $68.64 The industrial gas supplier made an unsolicited bid of about $5.1 billion for Airgas Inc.
The US economy lost 20,000 jobs in January while the unemployment rate fell, according to official data Friday that offered mixed signals about prospects for a sustainable recovery.
The Group of Seven finance ministers wrapped up their meetings Saturday with no clear indication if Canada's gambit of keeping talks informal would yield results.