Stocks fell sharply on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its worst day in nearly two years, as worries over the health of the U.S. economy sparked a global market sell-off.

The Dow dropped 1,033.99 points, or 2.6%, to end at 38,703.27. The Nasdaq Composite lost 3.43% and closed at 16,200.08, while the S&P 500 slid 3% to end at 5,186.33. The blue-chip Dow and S&P 500 registered their biggest daily losses since September 2022.

Japan's stock market posted its worst drop since Wall Street's Black Monday in 1987, contributing to fears of global turmoil in the markets.

Fears of a U.S. recession were the main culprit for the global market meltdown after Friday's disappointing July jobs report. Investors are also concerned that the Federal Reserve is behind in cutting interest rates to bolster an economic slowdown, with the central bank choosing instead to keep rates at the highest in two decades last week.

Investors are continuing to sell off megacap tech stocks and the once-hot artificial intelligence trade. Tech shares were among the worst performers Monday:

• Nvidia tumbled 6.4% Monday, bringing its decline from its 52-week high to nearly 29%.
• Apple cratered 4.8% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway cut its stake in the iPhone maker in half.
• Other losers included Tesla, down 4.2%, and Super Micro Computer, down 2.5%.

In Asia overnight, Japan stocks confirmed a bear market as Asia-Pacific investors had their first chance to react to the sour jobs figures in the U.S. from Friday. The 12.4% loss on the Nikkei, which closed at 31,458.42, was the worst day for the index since the "Black Monday" of 1987 hit Wall Street. The loss of 4,451.28 points on the index was also the largest in terms of points in its entire history. The Dow lost more than 22% in a single day on Black Monday.

Other global markets were also severely affected:

• U.S. Treasury yields tumbled on the recession fears and as investors flooded into bonds for a global safe haven. Bond prices move inversely to yields. The benchmark 10-year note on Monday last yielded 3.78%. The benchmark yield hit its lowest level since June 2023.
• Bitcoin tumbled from nearly $62,000 on Friday to around $54,000 on Monday.
• Europe's Stoxx 600 was off by 2.2%.
• The Cboe Volatility Index was last at about 38, after climbing as high as 65, its greatest level since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The so-called VIX index is known as Wall Street's "fear gauge," and it's based on market pricing for options on the S&P 500.

There is also chatter about the unwind of the yen "carry trade" adding fuel to the global market decline after the Bank of Japan raised interest rates last week, reducing the interest rate differential between Japan and the U.S. That has contributed to the yen rising in value versus the dollar, ending a practice of traders borrowing in the cheap currency to buy other global assets.

"The market was whistling past the graveyard. I think people were basically lulled into a sense of security, yet the market itself was very vulnerable to a correction — and the weaker than expected economic and employment data provided that catalyst for correction," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. The S&P 500 is currently around 8.5% off from its recent high.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, while avoiding commitment to a specific course of action, indicated on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday that interest rates at their current level may be too "restrictive."

If economic conditions meaningfully deteriorate, the central bank will "fix it," Goolsbee added.

Just 22 stocks in the S&P 500 were higher in the brutal session for investors.

Major indexes post worst 3-day losses since 2022

From the close on July 31 through the end of Monday's trading session, the major averages suffered their worst three-day declines since 2022.

The Dow fell 5.24% over the last three trading days, turning in its worst three-day loss since Jun. 14, 2022, when it tumbled 5.91% in three days.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 7.95% in the period. This marked the Nasdaq's biggest three-day fall since Jun.13, 2022, when it tanked 10.57% in a three-day period.

The S&P 500 lost 6.08% in three days for its sharpest pullback in that span since Jun.14, 2022, when it shed 7.03%.

— Hakyung Kim, Gina Francolla

S&P 500, Dow fall to worst day since September 2022

U.S. stocks slid Monday amid heightened volatility and a global sell-off.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1,033.99 points, or 2.6%, to close at 38,703.27. The S&P 500 fell 3%, ending at 5,186.33. Both averages notched their worst daily losses since September 2022.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 3.43%, finishing at 16,200.08.

— Hakyung Kim

U.S. crude oil closes at six-month low, making OPEC's job more difficult

U.S. crude oil followed equity markets lower Monday, hitting six-month lows on recession fears.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for September closed at $72.94 per barrel, down 0.79%, for the lowest settle since Feb. 5. The Brent October contract declined 0.66% to settle at $76.30 per barrel.

WTI has largely erased its gains for the year, now up just 1.8%, while Brent is now marginally lower for 2024.

OPEC+ was planning to start increasing oil production in October, but those plans may now be in jeopardy.

"If the trend continues, I just can't imagine OPEC would go forward with increasing output into this market. The question is, would they go the opposite way given the conditions we're seeing," said Helima Croft said, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, suggesting the oil producers could cut production again.

— Spencer Kimball

Solar ETF falls to 4-year low on Monday

The Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) dropped 2.3% Monday to hit its lowest level since July 2020.

The solar stocks ETF's losses were led by declines of around 12% and more of Korea-based Hanwha Solutions and Japanese company West Holdings Corp., which pulled back sharply amid the broader selloff across Asian stock markets overnight Monday.

— Hakyung Kim

Investor 'stampede' has created buying opportunities, says Macquarie

The market sell-off Monday was akin to a "stampede" that investors may want to avoid, according to Macquarie.

"According to Britannica, a stampede is 'an occurrence in which a large group of frightened animals or people run together in a wild and uncontrolled way to escape from something,'" said Viktor Shvets, the firm's head of global and Asia Pacific strategy.

In this case, the "something" was actually a number of events, including the perception that the Federal Reserve is behind the curve in cutting interest rates, concerns over a tech bubble and the potential unwind of the Yen carry trade, he wrote in a note Monday.

However, Shvets believes the U.S. can avoid a recession and that tech valuations are nowhere near bubble territory. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar-yen exchange rates are only back to those of late 2023 and the fundamental reasons for carry trade are still intact, he added.

"Although stampedes are inherently unpredictable, we view it is closer to irrational, thus creating buying rather than selling opportunities," he said.

— Michelle Fox

A positive yield curve is good for regional banks, says WaFd Bank president and CEO

The yield curve briefly normalized on Monday, which is good news for regional banks, according to Brent Beardall, president and CEO of WaFd Bank.

Despite an overwhelmingly volatile backdrop, Beardall has not seen any deterioration in credit quality. In fact, as the Federal Reserve begins cutting rates and cost of financing goes down in the next few months, this should benefit Beardall's clients, he said.

"Credit remains incredibly strong, liquidity is high, capital is high," he said on CNBC's "The Exchange" on Monday. "All we want as banks is a normal, positive slope to the yield curve. So that is a huge positive to us in terms of our net interest margin going forward for the Fed and all regional banks. We can dodge a downturn."

Beardall believes this is also positive for the commercial real estate market, and sees real estate looking much more affordable than before. He anticipates a "pretty dramatic increase in terms of purchases" going forward.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Tyson Foods pops postearnings

Tyson Foods shares jumped more than 3% after the company's quarterly results beat Wall Street's expectations. Shares are up more than 17% this year.

The food company reported adjusted earnings of 87 cents, excluding items, on revenue of $13.35 billion for the fiscal third quarter. That is above the consensus estimate of 67 cents per share on $13.21 billion in revenue, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

The performance of Tyson Foods and fellow food company Kellanova — whose shares have surged Monday on news of a potential sale to Mars — remain two of the few bright spots amid the market sell-off.

— Sean Conlon

Kellanova shares surge on report of potential sale to Mars

Shares of Kellanova soared more than 14% in afternoon trading Monday, hitting a new high during the session.

The gains come after Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Snickers and M&M's maker Mars is exploring a potential takeover of the company. CNBC's David Faber reported that Hershey may also be interested in buying the snack food company.

Kellanova has a market cap of $24.6 billion and is up around 29% in 2024.

— Sean Conlon

Schwab says technical issue has been resolved

Charles Schwab said shortly after 12:30 p.m. ET that the technical issue that prevented some users from logging into their accounts has been resolved. Downdetector.com shows complaints of issues at other brokerage firms have also subsided since this morning.

— Jesse Pound‏

Wells Fargo's Scott Wren sees a buying opportunity amid the rout

This pullback is just what Wells Fargo's Scott Wren has been waiting for.

"We are looking at pullback opportunities," the firm's senior global equity strategist said. "We have a plan and it is a matter of executing it at this point."

He also thinks it is "overblown" to think the Federal Reserve is going to have an emergency rate cut, as Wharton's Jeremy Siegel suggested earlier today on CNBC's "Squawk Box." Wren is sticking to the prediction of two 25 basis-point rate cuts this year and one next year. One basis point equals 0.01%.

— Michelle Fox

Stocks making the biggest moves midday

Here are the stocks on the move midday:

• Crypto stocks — Several bitcoin-related names were hit following the cryptocurrency's drop below $50,000 for the first time since February. Robinhood plummeted more than 10%, and MicroStrategy plunged more than 8%. Others such as Coinbase and Marathon Digital each fell around 5%.
• Nvidia, Super Micro Computer — Nvidia and Super Micro Computer sank more than 6% each as U.S. recession fears sparked a global market sell-off and investors rotated out of 2024′s winning artificial intelligence names. Semiconductor stocks sold off as well, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF dropping 3%. Micron Technology and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing lost more than 5%, while Arm Holdings declined 7%.
• Apple — The tech stock dropped more than 5% in the broad market sell-off after news that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway dumped half its stake in the iPhone maker. Berkshire disclosed in its earnings filing that its Apple holding was valued at $84.2 billion at the end of the second quarter, indicating that the Oracle of Omaha dumped a little more than 49% of the tech stake. Apple was still Berkshire's biggest equity holding by far after the sale.

Read the full list here.

— Sean Conlon

'Violent rotations' will be here in the near term, says Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research believes the current market volatility will be here to stay over the coming months.

"Given mixed results from the Mag 7 last week, election uncertainty and now concerns over the U.S. economic outlook, we expect these violent rotations to continue into the weaker seasonally August-October periods," chief investment strategist Chris Senyek wrote in a Monday note.

Senyek warned that the market's rate cut expectations are once again getting ahead of the Federal Reserve. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, fed funds futures are now pricing in an 81.5% probability of the central bank lowering rates by 50 basis points at its September meeting.

— Hakyung Kim

Market correction is 'overdue,' says investor

Monday's broad market pullback is a "healthy correction" after the market reached high valuation levels, said Main Street Research Chief Investment Officer James Demmert. He believes the correction is closer to the end than the beginning and advises investors to buy the dip before equities climb up again.

"This past week of stock market volatility is overdue, as we are in the early stages of this bull market, which involve sharp rallies, like we saw so far this year, that are then punctured by sharp corrections, like we are now experiencing. These corrections are healthy and resets and normalizes stock prices and sets the market up for another run to new highs," Demmert said.

He added, "Market fundamentals have actually improved in recent weeks, particularly the Federal Reserve's assurance that interest rate cuts are coming."

— Hakyung Kim

South Korea ETF on pace for biggest daily loss since 2020

The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) is down more than 7%, on pace for its worst day since April 1, 2020, when it fell nearly 6.9%. The exchange-traded fund has already surpassed its 30-day average volume of 2.36 million shares, trading more than 2.39 million shares so far on Monday.

During the main trading session overnight, South Korean stocks suffered their biggest loss since the global financial crisis of 2008. The benchmark KOSPI fell as much as 10.8%, triggering circuit breakers for the first time since March 2020.

— Hakyung Kim

The sell-off on Wall Street could slip as much as 9% from all-time high depending on Monday trading

With equities under further pressure on Monday, the benchmark S&P 500 could slip as much as 9% from its all-time high depending on where markets close.

The broad market index is currently down roughly 8.5% from the record high reached in July. However, the S&P 500 is still up roughly 13% in 2024.

The pullback could end being in line with historical norms, with Bank of America positing that there are typically three similar downturns annually going back to 1929.

— Brian Evans

Advanced Micro Devices rises more than 1%, bucks market sell-off trend

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices added more than 1% as a global market sell-off rattled the broader sector.

The rise in AMD shares came as artificial intelligence darling Nvidia dropped about 7% as investors took risk off the table. The Information also reported over the weekend that the company is delaying its new Blackwell AI chips by at least three months.

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF was last down 3%, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Micron Technology fell more than 4% each. Super Micro Computer declined 5%.

— Samantha Subin

VIX, Nvidia and yields move away from their most extreme levels

The fall for stocks appears to have stabilized, at least temporarily, on Monday morning. Some key market indicators have now retreated from their most extreme levels of the day.

• The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, has fallen to about 42 from a high above 65.
• Nvidia is trading at roughly $99.85 per share, up from a low of $90.69.
• The 10-year Treasury yield is at 3.767%, up from its low of the day of 3.666%.

— Jesse Pound

Monday's losses push Nasdaq deeper into correction territory

Monday's sell-off pushed the Nasdaq Composite deeper into correction territory, with many investors deliberating whether the S&P 500 could soon join the tech-heavy index.

Here is how far the major indexes are from their recent highs:

• The Nasdaq Composite is off by 13.7%.
• The S&P 500 is down 8.7%.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average is off by 6.3%.

— Sarah Min

ISM services PMI beats expectations

The U.S. services sector expanded at a faster-than-expected pace in July, providing a respite of positive economic news to counter fears of a looming recession.

The ISM services index registered a 51.4% reading for the month, representing the share of purchase managers reporting expansion. That is up from 48.8% in June and better than the Dow Jones estimate for 50.9%.

Other areas of the PMI survey also showed positive signs. The employment index rose 5 points, coming out of contraction for a reading of 51.1%. In addition, the business activity and new orders indexes also came out of contraction while inventories, new orders and backlogs all saw sharp gains.

A disappointing ISM manufacturing reading last week helped generate the current sharp sell-off on Wall Street.

— Jeff Cox

Bitcoin and ether trim losses at the open

Bitcoin and ether traded off their lows at the stock market open.

The price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last lower by 10%, and ether was down more than 13%. Earlier in the morning, they traded as low as 17% and 22%, respectively.

Crypto stocks pared losses as well but were still deep in the red. Coinbase was last down 7% and MicroStrategy is lower by 12%.

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, including the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF and the iShares Bitcoin Trust, were down more than 14% across the board.

— Tanaya Macheel

Nasdaq Composite falls below 200-day moving average

The Nasdaq Composite on Monday dropped below its 200-day moving average of 15,823.30, falling below the long-term trend indicator on an intraday basis for the first time since Oct. 31, 2023.

The benchmark's last close below the 200-day moving average was Oct. 30, 2023.

— Sarah Min, Gina Francolla

Stocks open sharply lower

U.S. stocks opened in the red on Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1,103 points, or 2.8%.

The S&P 500 dropped 225 points, or 4.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 6.3%.

— Hakyung Kim

Wall Street's 'fear gauge' continues to climb

The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, rose to 65 on Monday morning after trading near 23 on Friday.

The index, often referred to as Wall Street's "fear gauge," is now at its highest level since March 2020. The VIX is a measure of expected volatility over the next 30 days based on market pricing of S&P 500 options.

— Jesse Pound

Artificial intelligence stocks drop, Nvidia sheds more than 13%

Stocks tied to the artificial intelligence trade dropped Monday as fears of a U.S. recession fueled a sell-off on Wall Street.

Nvidia and Super Micro Computer led the losses, falling about 14% each. Advanced Micro Devices, Meta Platforms and Amazon dropped 8% each, while Microsoft and Alphabet declined about 6%.

Read more on the tech-fueled sell-off here.

— Samantha Subin

Wharton's Jeremy Siegel calls for emergency Fed rate cut

Jeremy Siegel, Wharton professor emeritus of finance and chief economist at WisdomTree, called on the Federal Reserve to make an emergency 75 basis-point cut in the federal funds rate.

There should be another 75 basis-point cut indicated for the September meeting, at minimum, he told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

"The fed funds rate right now should be somewhere between 3.5% and 4%," Siegel said.

To read more about Siegel's comments, read the full story here.

— Michelle Fox

Apple shares crater after Warren Buffett slashes stake by half

Warren Buffett stunned many on Wall Street after Berkshire Hathaway revealed it had slashed its big Apple stake by half in the second quarter.

Berkshire Hathaway disclosed in its earnings filing over the weekend that its Apple holding was valued at $84.2 billion at the end of the second quarter, indicating that the Oracle of Omaha dumped a little more than 49% of the tech stake.

The 93-year-old legendary investor has been on a massive selling spree, offloading more than $75 billion in equities in the second quarter and raising Berkshire's cash pile to a whopping $277 billion, an all-time high for the conglomerate.

Shares of Apple dropped more than 8% in premarket trading Monday amid an intensifying global sell-off.

— Yun Li

Gold prices decline amid volatile market on Monday

Gold prices fell as the markets digest the Nikkei 225's 12% drop and a sharp tumble in U.S. stock futures on Monday. The move downward bucked gold's reputation as a safe-haven trend. Typically during global market turmoil, gold prices move higher as investors seek to hedge against volatility.

Gold futures shed 1.6% to $2,431.50. Spot gold pulled back 2.2% to $2,390.75.

— Hakyung Kim

Yen rises to seven-month high against the dollar

The Japanese yen appreciated 2.6% to reach 142.79 against the dollar, its highest level since January.

The Nikkei 225's 12% drop on Monday lent itself to the unwinding of the yen "carry trade." The Bank of Japan's decision to hike interest rates to 0.25%, lowering its rate differential with the U.S., has also driven the yen's jump against the dollar over the past week.

The dollar index fell 0.5% to 102.64 on Monday.

— Hakyung Kim

Crypto stocks fall double digits as bitcoin tumbles below $50,000

Crypto stocks were among the hardest hit Monday morning as the price of bitcoin dropped below $50,000 for the first time since February.

Coinbase slid 13%, while MicroStrategy tumbled 17%. Marathon Digital lost 13% and other miners were down double digits as well.

Bitcoin sank more than 13% on Monday to $50,963.57, according to Coin Metrics. At one point, it fell to $49,111.10, its lowest level since February. It has lost nearly 18% since Saturday.

"Thirty percent slumps, as scary as they are, are par for the course during bull markets and it's encouraging bitcoin bounced back above $50,000," said Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev. "But make no mistake, we are in a choppy, volatile market environment … the moment to turn bullish will be when bitcoin retakes its 200-day moving average, which typically tells us if we are in a bull or bear market, at $61,500."

For more, read our full story here.

— Tanaya Macheel

Here's how investors are reacting to the market sell-off

U.S. futures are tumbling. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 12.4% on Monday in the index's worst day since 1987. Here is how some Wall Street investors are reacting to the sell-off.

In a Sunday note, Evercore ISI Chairman Ed Hyman acknowledged that signs of a recession are beginning to become harder to ignore.

"With the soft employment report, the NASDAQ correction, the plunge in bond yields, and the plunge in commodity prices, it's possible we're seeing recession signals coming home to roost," he wrote.

Vital Knowledge's Adam Crisafulli blamed some of the sell-off on investors unwinding some of their positioning in the year's top tech winners. But even against this market pullback, investors cautioned against turning too bearish too fast.

"This is not the time to panic in our opinion," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told CNBC on Monday morning. "It's not the time to hit the exit buttons."

Read more investor reactions at our CNBC Pro investor reaction live blog.

— Lisa Kailai Han

VIX volatility index soars 72% to four-year high

The VIX index, a measurement of market volatility, leapt 72% on Monday to its highest level in nearly four years amid a global equity rout.

The so-called fear gauge was up 72% at 10:07 a.m. in London, rising above 40 for the first time since October 2020, according to LSEG data.

— Jenni Reid

European stocks fall

European stocks fell sharply at the start of Monday's session as global volatility continues amid concerns of a looming U.S. recession.

The regional Stoxx 600 index was 2.34% lower by 8:52 a.m. London time, with all sectors and major regional bourses trading in the red. Tech stocks shed as much as 5% before paring losses slightly to trade down 2.1%. Oil also lost 3.65%, while banks were 3.22% lower.

— Karen Gilchrist

Asia stock rout

Japan stocks confirmed a bear market on Monday as Asia-Pacific markets continued the sell-off from last week.

The 12.4% loss on the Nikkei, which saw it close at 31,458.42, was the worst day for the index since the "Black Monday" of 1987. The loss of 4,451.28 points on the index was also the largest in terms of points in its entire history.

Heavyweight trading houses such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Co., Sumitomo and Marubeni all plunged around 10%.

South Korea's Kospi fell 8.1% before trading was halted for 20 minutes from 2:14 p.m. Seoul time due to the exchange's circuit breakers.

— Lim Hui Jie

Corporate earnings season continues

The second-quarter earnings season has had a solid scorecard thus far. Of the 75% of S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings, 78% have posted positive surprises, according to FactSet data. According to FactSet's John Butters, that is above the five-year average of 77%.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 blended earnings growth rate — which includes actual results, as well as estimates for companies that have yet to report — was 11.5%. According to Butters, that would mark the highest earnings growth since the fourth quarter of 2021.

Still, corporate earnings season continues this week with some notable names that include the Walt Disney Company, Caterpillar, Costco, Eli Lilly and Super Micro Computer.

On Monday, investors can expect results from companies such as Simon Property Group, Diamondback Energy and Tyson Foods.

— Sarah Min

July ISM Services PMI set for release Monday

The July ISM Services PMI, which measures the performance of services companies, is expected to show a rise to 50.9 from 48.8 previously.

The data is due out Monday at 10 a.m. ET.

— Sarah Min

Stock futures open lower

U.S. stock futures opened lower Sunday night.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 221 points, or 0.6%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures dipped 0.9% and 1.2%, respectively.

— Sarah Min