Source: ABC News -- Read Full Story

Asian markets plunged Wednesday on growing speculation the U.S. economy a vital export market is sliding into a recession that could lead to a global slowdown. Investors dumped stocks after an overnight sell-off on Wall Street and on news that Citigroup Inc. had lost nearly $10 billion in the fourth quarter as it wrote down mountains of bad mortgage assets the latest fallout from the credit crisis. Weak U.S. retail sales figures added to the gloom. "American financial mismanagement has brought us to this economic meltdown," said Francis Lun, a general manager at Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. "Asian stock markets are all suffering; nobody has escaped."