World stock markets plunge due to fears of a collapse in the US

Rising unemployment in the U.S. is raising concerns for the global economy. The New York Stock Exchange opened Friday sharply lower and bond yields fell following a rise in the U.S. unemployment rate in July, a sign of slowing down for the world's largest economy.

Unemployment in the country rose to 4.3% in July, the highest since October 2021. The figure is worse than expected, increasing 0.2% from the previous month. It is a setback for the Biden-Harris administration barely three months before the election, once again highlighting the weakness of its economic policies, known as Bidenomics.

This indicator, moreover, worries the Federal Reserve at a time when it is still considering a possible rate cut in September.

According to AFP, "during early trading, the Dow Jones index fell 0.93%, while the tech-dominated Nasdaq was down 2.53%, weighed down in particular by Intel, which plunged 25% after the announcement of 15,000 job cuts."

The broad-based S&P 500 index also drew back, by 1.51%.

Meanwhile, according to data from The Telegraph, the Stoxx 600 index also fell as much as 2.3%, hitting a three-month low. The German Dax also fell as much as 2.3%; the French Cac 40 as much as 1.4% and the FTSE 100 as much as 0.8%.

"Japan’s Nikkei 225 index had already closed down by 2,216.63 points - its second-largest points drop in history - after weaker than expected US factory data showed output dropped to an eight-month low in July," The Telegraph highlighted.