RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: NPR's business news starts with panic selling on global markets.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: European shares are also falling. Nervous investors have sent Germany's main stock average down nearly 5 percent. U.S. stocks also opened sharply lower. Shares in General Electric are taking a beating. GE is a major manufacturer of nuclear power reactors, and it designed reactors at the troubled Japanese nuclear plant.
As fears of a nuclear disaster mount, investors are bailing out of Japanese stocks. The Nikkei stock average plummeted 11 percent Tuesday. That follows a six percent drop Monday.