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London's FTSE 100 index fell a further 4.1 per cent, Germany's Dax is down by 5.7 per cent and France's Cac has fallen by 2.4 per cent.
Speaking to Reuters, Mic Mills, head of electronic trading at ETX Capital, said: "The early optimism was short-lived as 5,000 in the FTSE was easily breached and with lows in the futures overnight at 4,700 it would seem that the bears again have the upper hand."
He added that the only hope would be if the US introduced another round of quantitative easing.
The wholesale declines in share values have been exacerbated by the ongoing sovereign debt crisis facing Europe itself and, unfortunately, the stock market tips seem to be few and far between at the moment.
Standard & Poor, which downgraded the US's credit rating before the weekend has reiterated that there doesn't appear to be a short-term fix for the situation, which could have a continued negative impact on the country's economy.
Posted by Greg Secker
