Each of the three main indexes slid more than 4% which wiped out the gains of the previous day (Tuesday"s gain). On Wednesday, the Dow finished down 519.83 points, to 10,719.94. The Standard & Poor"s 500-stock index dropped 51.77 points, to 1,120.76. The Nasdaq fell 101.47 points, at 2,381.05 with heavy volumes.

The focus on the Wednesday was on the financial sector, which again took a beating. Bank of America and Citigroup each lost more than 10% of their market value.

If U.S. economy sneezes, other economies also catches cold, contagion is that fast. So how could Asian markets stay calm after U.S. sell off!

Japan's Nikkei 225 index sank 102.86 points to 8,935.88, wiping out gains of the previous day. Taiwan index lost 36.34 points to 7699.98 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stumbled 286.97 points to 19,496.70.

The Bombay Stock Exchange - SENSEX was down 78.38 points to 17,052.14 and Nifty Index fell 24.10 points to 5,136.10.

What spooked the markets and reasons for sell-off: