YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS. Stocks went into free fall on Monday, and the Dow plunged almost 1,600 points -- easily the biggest point decline in history during a trading day, CNN reports.

Buyers charged back in and limited the damage, but at the closing bell the Dow was still down 1,175 points, by far its worst closing point decline on record.

And the rout in U.S. markets continued to ripple around the globe. Japan's Nikkei index plunged 4% in Tuesday morning trading while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia dropped 3%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average , also called the Industrial Average, the Dow Jones, the Dow 30 or simply the Dow, is a stock market index of thirty major companies and one of several indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow.