The decline on the stock exchange in New York is deepening since new American labour market statistics were published earlier during the day.
About 45 minutes after opening, the broad S&P 500 index is down 1.7 per cent, Nasdaq's technology-heavy composite index 2.2 per cent, and the Dow Jones industrial index 1.4 per cent.
The statistics showed that 256,000 new jobs were created outside the agricultural sector in the USA in December – the strongest job figure in nine months in the country.
In the pricing on the interest rate market, the probability of an interest rate cut by the USA's central bank Federal Reserve (Fed) in the spring has thus been eliminated. Now it is pointing towards the next cut being delayed until October. Previously, it was leaning towards May or June.
