Central banks in India, Thailand and New Zealand cut interest rates overnight, while European powerhouse Germany produced frighteningly weak data on industrial production.

About 10 minutes into the trading session, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.4 percent at 25,656.34.

The broader S&P 500 slid 1.1 percent to 2,849.46 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped one percent to 7,759.06.