An ugly start to European trading pushed world shares towards their lowest level in a year on Tuesday, as negative drivers from Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic isolation to worries about Italy’s finances and trade wars piled on the pressure.
Selling escalated from Wall Street into a heavy selloff in Asia before hitting Europe, which was facing a fifth day of uninterrupted declines.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was near a two-year low with almost half of its stocks now in bear-market territory — down 20 percent from their peak.
