RENEE MONTAGNE, host: NPR business news starts with more jitters for global stock markets.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Asian markets plunged today. Again, gloomy news about the U.S. economy sent investors scurrying for the exits of the stock market. A report out yesterday suggests the U.S. service sector is shrinking. That's added to fears of recession. After the leading stock indices on Wall Street fell sharply, global markets followed suit. Tokyo's main stock index dropped 4.7 percent. Hong Kong's ended the day almost 5.5 percent lower.
More gloomy economic news from the United States — a report that the service sector shrank for the first time since March 2003 — sends Asian markets tumbling Wednesday.