As bad news mounts and fears grow about the impending recession, stock markets dropped around the world in Monday trading. Adding to the woes, analysts expect that the Bank of China may have to write off at least 25% of its $8 billion [subscription required] mortgage securities holdings in the U.S. Prior to these reports, the bank had only admitted to the need for a $322 million provision for losses, according to today's Wall Street Journal.

Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index took its steepest fall since its Sept. 11, 2001 tumble, dropping 4.2%. Since it reached its 6 1/2 year high in June, the index has dropped 22%. A drop of more than 20% puts this market officially into bear territory.

Other key losers today include:

• France's CAC 40 lost 5.1%
  
• UK's FTSE 100 dropped 4%
• Germany's DAX went down 5.9%
• MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 3.7% and the MCSI Emerging Markets Index fell 5.1%
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gave up 5.5%
• Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 5.1%

With this type of global bloodbath, expect U.S. stocks to tank when they reopen tomorrow. They are closed today for the holiday. Investors are seeking safe havens in bonds and currencies.

Lita Epstein has written more than 20 books including "Trading for Dummies."

Worldwide stock markets decline originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.