European stock markets fell by more than 5% Monday after Tokyo lost 6.4% and the International Monetary Fund said it was loaning Ukraine 16.5 billion dollars.
Experts said markets were afraid the credit crunch might be spreading to emerging markets.
Milan lost 6.10% and Madrid 6.40% as trading got under way.
UBS and Deutsche Bank fell more than 6% while Daimler shed 6.4% on rumours of a possible five-week halt to production.
Here's how the main European bourses are performing: London -5.62% Paris -5.03% Frankfurt -2.93% Madrid -4.80% Milan -5.90% Amsterdam -4.63% Stockholm -5.65% Zurich -4.02%.