Fears of a recession in the US sent markets plunging from Asia right across to Brazil today. The New York Stock Exchange remains closed this Monday, because it's Martin Luther King Day in the US. Germany's blue chip stock index, the DAX, fell sharply with all of the top 30 firms' stocks losing value. US President George Bush last week proposed a multi-billion-dollar package designed to shore up the world's biggest economy in the wake of the global credit crisis - but that doesn't seem to have convinced investors.