US stocks plummeted on Friday after markets worldwide fell to multi-year lows amid mounting fears of a global recession.

By midmorning in New York the S&P 500 was 5 per cent lower at 862.83. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite Index fell 4.8 per cent to 8,271.19 and 5.4 per cent to 1,517.83, respectively.