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Stock futures tumbled Tuesday after the euro fell to a new four-year low....

The stock market tumbled again Thursday after another drop in the euro and disappointing U.S. employment news darkened investors already bleak view of the world economy. Interest rates fell sharply in the Treasury market as investors once again sought the safety of U.S. government debt.

The European economy was once again the focus of Wall Street Wednesday morning after Germany enacted a ban on a certain form of short-selling. Europe's monetary woes have dragged on U.S. equity markets for months as investors weigh the potential long-term impact of a sluggish economy in the region and the possibility that this slowness could upend the global financial recovery. Stateside economic data on consumer prices, meanwhile, continues to point to a slow--but steady--recovery. Stronger than expected earnings reports from Hewlett-Packard, Deere and Target did little to lift stocks in early trading.

U.S. stock exchanges and regulators will likely propose market-wide safeguards to be launched in a six-month pilot program, starting June 14.

The euro began the week by hitting a four-year low against the dollar and Chinese equities joined the decline in global stocks Monday, adding a new element of concern to the recent market turmoil.

Futures trades by Waddell & Reed, a mutual fund based in Kansas, have been linked to the May 6 “flash crash” of the Dow.

Stock futures were only slightly higher after weekly jobless claims showed only the slight improvement already expected by economists. Several major Wall Street banks slipped in premarket trading.

Spain will cut state employees' wages and slash investment spending, sparking immediate union anger with a bid to reassure markets that it can get its budget deficit under control and detain the spread of the European debt ...

The top securities regulator said no single event had been found to explain Thursday's mysterious market plunge, but the shocking drop was unacceptable and additional safeguards were coming.

The SEC and the major trading exchanges agreed that a market-wide "circuit-breaker" system should be established to handle the type of market volatility demonstrated in Thursday's unsettling market plunge.