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More than $2.5 trillion have been wiped off the value of world stocks this week on mounting concerns the global economy is heading toward another recession.

Investors fled Wall Street in the worst stock-market selloff since the middle of the financial crisis in early 2009 in what has turned into a full-fledged correction. The Dow and the S&P tumbled more than 4 percent on Thursday and the Nasdaq lost 5 percent on fear the United States is staring at another recession and that Europe's sovereign debt crisis is swallowing two of its largest economies.

Stocks' downward spiral picked up speed near the end of trading Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 250 points and closed below 12K for the first time since June.

The top executive of NYSE Euronext said a critical European Union review of the company's agreed-upon tie-up with Deutsche Börse will likely result in conditions being placed on the combined company, rather than an outright block of the deal.

MetroPCS reported a sharp slowdown in subscriber growth as the sputtering U.S. economy forced customers to drop their wireless service, a trend the company sees continuing. Shares plunged.

Signs that American consumers were pulling back on their spending added to growing concerns about the direction of the economy.

Could the U.S. lose its top credit rating even if a deal is reached to raise the debt limit? Market analysts and investors increasingly say yes. The outcome won't be quite as scary as a default, but financial markets would still take a blow. Mortgage rates could rise. States and cities, already strapped, could find it more difficult to borrow. Stocks could lose their gains for the year.

Blockbuster sales of the iPhone and strong Asian business again helped Apple Inc crush Wall Street's expectations, driving its shares up more than 7 percent to a record high and boosting Asian stocks.

Stocks opened higher as encouraging quarterly results from blue-chip companies and a hint of housing optimism gave a boost to investor sentiment.

Google recently announced its Q2 2011 earnings on July 14, 2011. [1] For the quarter, total advertising revenues surged by about 33% over Q2 2010 values driven by increased paid clicks as well as higher cost-per-click rates over the same quarter last year.