Major market indexes around the world were pummelled Thursday afternoon.
Here's where major indexes, commodities and currencies closed:
In Europe, Both London's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX fell more than 3 per cent, at 3.43 and 3.40 per cent respectively.
At the close, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 3.4 per cent. But both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were hit with a heavier punch. The American exchanges plummeted 4.3 and 4.8 per cent respectively.
Brazil's Bovespa Index fell a whopping 5.6 per cent and the technology-heavy NASDAQ fell just over 5 per cent. To compare, markets fell about 6 per cent in a day during 2008's financial crisis. The country's reliance on commodities could explain the massive drop.
Oil prices took a hit and fell to $86.48 (U.S.) per barrel after the markets closed - a one day drop of $5.45 Its price has not been this low since February 2011.
Not even gold stayed in investors' favour, as the commodity's spot price fell $10.68 from Wednesday to $1,651.07. During the 2008 financial crisis, gold spot prices fell 28.96 per cent. Since the low, the price has rebounded more than 130 per cent to record highs.
Even "safe" currencies such as the Canadian dollar fell compared with the U.S. dollar. The loonie fell to $1.0209 as the markets closed after hitting a peak of $1.0601 on July 21. Analysts had expected the Canadian dollar to beat its recent-history high in November 2007 of just over $1.10 by the fall.