Wall Street is experiencing another rocky Friday.

World stock markets tumbled Friday on increasing fears that a global recession will destroy corporate profits and push smaller developing economies to the brink of collapse. After the market opened, The Dow Jones industrials dropped more than 400 points in early trading and all the major indexes fell more than 4 percent.

Earlier in the morning, futures indicated a sharp drop on Wall Street, with futures down 550 points, the maximum daily price change. Reuters reports that stock futures fell so sharply in European trade today, they had to be frozen several times.

"We are in a panic mode, I don’t know how else to describe it and when you’re in panic mode, all rational thought goes out of the window," City Index Chief Market Strategist Tom Hougaard told Reuters. "We’ve just got to let this thing rage. I think we’ll see the Dow below 8,000 today."

In Europe this morning, Germany’s benchmark DAX index was down a massive 10.76% at 4,033.27, with the French CAC40 down 10% at 2979.95. Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average slid 9.6 percent to 7,649. U.S. stock index futures were down sharply. On Thursday, the Dow rose 2% to 8,691.25.

Britain’s FTSE 100 was 8.67 percent lower at 3,733.33 after third quarter GDP fell 0.5 percent, putting the country on the edge of recession. Its economy shrank in the third quarter as the global credit squeeze took its toll, and the pound plunged.

"Every business, every individual — we have to live within our means," warned British Treasury chief Alistair Darling.

Investors are pulling money out of countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia, afraid that vulnerable countries will not only be hit hard by the financial crisis but may also default on debt.

In other business news today:

-The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Friday said it was reducing oil production by 1.5 million barrels a day as the world’s financial crisis dampened demand for energy, reports MarketWatch.

-Asian and European leaders said Friday they were confident they could overcome the deepest global financial crisis in more than 70 years.
Opening a two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) of 27 EU member states and 16 Asian countries, Chinese President Hu Jintao urged a fast response to the crisis. The European Union wants Asia to play a full part at a crisis summit that President Bush is convening next month.

-The U.S. Treasury Department and banking regulators could announce today or this weekend the next round of banks receiving capital infusions under the $700 billion bank bailout package passed by Congress, Reuters reports.

-Testifying before a very hostile U.S. House committee Thursday, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he had been wrong to think banks’ ability to assess risk and their self-interest would protect them from excesses. But he said no one could have predicted the collapse of the housing boom and the financial disaster that followed.