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SCOTT JAGOW: I’m not sure investors can see the bottom of this recent stock market free fall.

Today, Japan’s Nikkei plunged more than four percent — its biggest one-day loss in two years. Australian stocks had their worst day in almost five years.

Jesper Koll with Merrill Lynch says this is still mostly about interest rate hikes in the United States.

JESPER KOLL: Fears of rising interest rates are haunting stock markets globally and the Japanese market is being hit particularly hard. Today we had some questions over bankrupt Governor Fukui’s personal investments that further undermined confidence. But the basic threat is rising interest rates are coming.

Stock traders are worried the rate hikes will trigger a global slowdown in the economy.

It was the same story on Wall Street yesterday.

The Dow dropped 99 points — almost a percent — to 10,792. The NASDAQ fell for the seventh straight day, off by two percent. The S&P 500 lost more than a percent.