US equities kicked off lower as traders digested jobs data and got spooked by the prospect of a rate rise next month.
The Fed has signalled December may be the time to start releasing the monetary pedal, especially after the very good job creation number last month.
The Dow Jones is down 156 points at 17,545, while the Nasdaq shed 21 to 5,046. The broader based S&P 500 eased 15 to go to 2,060.
In London, the premier FTSE100 is off 110 points at 6,189.
Chris Beauchamp, at IG Index said trading has been "dominated by a host of speeches by Fed policymakers"
"...while Janet Yellen offered little, FOMC members Bullard and Lacker both reinforced the prevailing impression that the world’s most important central bank was increasingly comfortable with the idea of a December move.
"As a result, we saw the dollar pare losses, while the sell-off on Wall Street gathered pace."
The jobs data did nothing to boost sentiment in the US. The number of people claiming for unemployment benefit was unchanged in the first week of November - at a near 15 year low but economists polled had expected a fall in the claims number.
That said, job openings were far more positive. Job openings rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.53 million in September from 5.38 million in August, which was the second-highest level since the series started in 2,000.
Also weighing was a slump in the oil price as traders increasingly fear on the glut of crude.
In companies, Kohl (NYSE:KSS) saw shares rise 6.65% after the department store operator reported better-than-expected quarterly net sales and profit, helped by strong back-to-school sales.
Conversely, Maximus (NYSE:MMS) sunk almost 21% in New York after it lowered its 2016 earnings guidance to a range between $2.40 and $2.70 per share from $2.85-to-$3.05 range previously.
Energizer (NYSE:ENR) slumped 11% after the battery maker lagged behind estimates by a penny with adjusted quarterly profit of $0.61 per share.
SinglePoint (OTCMKTS:SING) fell 17% to $0.00624. The full-service mobile technology and marketing provider said it has fully executed its agreement to acquire Text2Bid for $1.25mln.