Investors are bracing themselves ahead of today's resumption of equities trading on Wall Street.
Eyes around the world will be trained on the New York Stock Exchange as it has the first opportunity to react to last Tuesday's terrorist attacks, which led to the suspension of trading.
European and Asian indexes were thrown into turmoil last week following the attacks, with the Hang Seng Index ending the week at February 1999 lows, down 7.01 per cent at 9,655.45.
Despite attempts by the US Security and Exchange Commission to support the market, and calls for calm from Wall Street investment houses, many are expecting a massive sell-off today.
Analysts fear the attacks and their aftermath will have a devastating effect on what had been an already sharply slowing US economy.
The American airline industry has already been thrown into financial crisis. On Saturday, Continental Airlines, the fifth-largest carrier in the US, said it would cut 12,000 staff and reduce its flight schedules by about 20 per cent.