NEW YORK - WALL Street shares slid at the opening on Monday as worldwide markets remained in near panic over the global financial crisis despite a US$700-billion-dollar (S$1 trillion) rescue approved in Washington last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted below 10,000 points for the first time in four years Monday as panic gripped global stock markets in an escalating financial crisis.

The blue-chip index fell as low as 9,965 in morning trade, the first time the index was below the key psychological level since October 2004.

The Nasdaq skidded 42.80 points, 2.20 per cent, to 1,904.59 in the first five minutes.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 24.45 points, 2.22 per cent, to 1,074.78.

'There is a crisis of confidence behind the selling interest,' said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.

'Quite simply, there is a reluctance to believe the financial relief plan will produce a quick fix for the global financial system and global economy.'

The losses on Wall Street, while heavy, were not as steep as in other markets, with European bourses plunging around five percent and Brazil sinking 10 per cent before authorities suspended trading.

Investors dumped shares after US stock markets had fallen sharply on Friday despite US congressional approval of a US$700-billion bank bailout.

In a further move to ease troubled credit markets, the Federal Reserve said Monday it would start to pay interest on bank deposits for the first time and expand bank refinancing operations to US$900 billion by year-end. -- AFP