Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index tumbled 222.56 points or 1.65 per cent to 13,264.87 and New York's Dow Jones industrials lost 280.28 points or 2.1 per cent to 13,041.85.

"I think we're waiting for the Fed, basically, because obviously they showed their hand when they cut the discount rate when the subprime problems spilled into the real economy," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall and MacTier.