U.S. stocks on Wall Street plunged at the open today, and Japan’s Nikkei dropped more than 12% as economists feared the U.S. economy could be headed for a recession.

The steep drop comes just days after the U.S. Department of Labor released a lackluster July jobs report showing the unemployment rate rose to 4.3% and employers added 114,000 jobs, compared to the 175,000-job gain economists were expecting, according to a report from CNN.

The Dow dropped nearly 1,000 points after the opening bell, the S&P 500 was down 3.1% and the Nasdaq composite slid 3.6%, according to the Associated Press. The decline in the Nikkei was the worst since the Black Monday crash of 1987, the report said.

According to the Wall Street Journal, investors are now betting that the Federal Reserve will respond to the signs of economic weakness with more aggressive interest rate cuts in September, leading to levels of 4% to 4.25% by the end of 2024.

Here are a series of articles that look at the developing economic implications and reactions of today’s market drops:

• Global stock markets plunge: Stocks pare some losses mid-morning (CNN)
• Traders wonder if the Fed could make an emergency rate cut as markets tumble (New York Times)
• Berkshire’s cash stockpile soars as it cuts its stake in Apple (New York Times)
• Stock meltdown triggers ‘mad rush’ for treasuries: Markets wrap (Bloomberg)
• Customers report problems accessing accounts at Charles Schwab, Vanguard (Wall Street Journal)