Japan's Nikkei 225 soars 11% after massive sell-offs that shook Wall Street

The Nikkei gained nearly 11% but then fell back, trading 8.7% higher at 34,211.83 as investors bought into bargains after the 12.4% rout of the day before.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index soared more than 10% early Tuesday, a day after it set markets tumbling in Europe and on Wall Street. Other markets in Asia appeared to have settled somewhat after the rollercoaster ride that started the week.

An electronic stock board displays the Nikkei 225 Stock Average outside a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan.(Bloomberg)

The scary Monday started with a plunge abroad reminiscent of 1987 ’s crash that swept around the world and pummeled Wall Street with more steep losses, as fears worsened about a slowing U.S. economy.

The Nikkei gained nearly 11% early Tuesday but then fell back, trading 8.7% higher at 34,211.83 as investors bought into bargains after the 12.4% rout of the day before.

On Monday, the S&P 500 dropped 3% for its worst day in nearly two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reeled by 1,033 points, or 2.6%, while the Nasdaq composite slid 3.4% as Apple, Nvidia and other Big Tech companies that used to be the stars of the stock market continued to wilt.

The drops were the latest in a global sell-off that began last week, and it was the first chance for traders in Tokyo to react to Friday’s report showing U.S. employers slowed their hiring last month by much more than economists expected. That was the latest piece of data on the U.S. economy to come in weaker than expected, and it’s all raised fear the Federal Reserve has pressed the brakes on the U.S. economy by too much for too long through high interest rates in hopes of stifling inflation.

Professional investors cautioned that some technical factors could be amplifying the action in markets, and that the drops may be overdone, but the losses were still neck-snapping. South Korea’s Kospi index careened 8.8% lower, and bitcoin dropped below $54,000 from more than $61,000 on Friday.

Even gold, which has a reputation for offering safety during tumultuous times, slipped about 1%.

Elsewhere in Asia early Tuesday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 1.1% at 16,876.98 and the Kospi jumped 3.5% to 2,526.20. Taiwan's Taiex was up 1.2% and in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.3% higher, to 7,675.90.

The Shanghai Composite index, largely bypassed by the drama of the day before, was up 0.2% at 2,865.06.

Monday's meltdowns reflected fears that damage to the economy from prolonged high interest rates has been so severe that the Federal Reserve will have to cut rates in an emergency meeting, before its next scheduled decision on Sept. 18. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which closely tracks expectations for the Fed, briefly sank below 3.70% during the morning from 3.88% late Friday and from 5% in April. It later recovered and pulled back to 3.89%.