Tokyo (AP) – Asian stocks fell almost on Tuesday, with Tokyo falling 2.2%. Indeed, concerns over heavily indebted Chinese real estate developers put pressure on sentiment.

On Monday, US stocks posted the biggest drop since May, with the high-tech Nasdaq Composite falling 2.2%.

Markets in Taiwan, Shanghai and South Korea were closed on Tuesday.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 0.1% to 24,067.15 due to slower sales by real estate developers.

The Nikkei 225 lost 660.34 points to finish at 29,839.71. The Australian S&P ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 7,273.80.

Analysts fear that the damage caused by the collapse of Chinese real estate could spread around the world during past financial crises such as the collapse of the Japanese economic “bubble” and the 2008 subprime crisis. said he was using his memory.

In Japan, the disaster is called the Lehman Crisis due to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, which made the situation worse.

“The whisper is that this could be the ‘Lehman moment’ in China. Even if the Chinese market is closed until Wednesday, there will be ripple sales around the world, ”Rabo Research said.

The S&P 500 fell 1.7% on Monday to 4,357.73, the biggest drop since May. The S&P 500 is on course to come out of its two-week loss and head towards its first monthly decline since January.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.8% to 33,970.47. The Nasdaq was down 2.2% to 14,713.90. Russell 2000 lost 2.4% to 2,182.20.

Tech companies have brought down the broader market. Apple was down 2.1% and chipmaker Nvidia was down 3.6%.

The airline was one of the few glorious places. American Airlines rose 3%, leading all of the S&P 500 winners. Delta Air Lines rose 1.7% and United Airlines rose 1.6%.

Concerns about Chinese real estate developers and debt have recently focused on one of China’s biggest real estate developers, Evergrande, who may not be able to repay its debt.

These real estate companies are a major driver of China’s economy, which is the second largest in the world.

If the debt cannot be repaid, investors holding the bond will suffer significant losses, raising concerns about their financial strength. These bondholders may also be forced to sell other irrelevant investments to raise cash, which can hurt seemingly irrelevant market prices.

It is a product of proximity to global markets, a concept the financial community calls “contagion”.

Many analysts are hopeful that the Chinese government will prevent such a scenario, which at one point does not look like Lehman. Still, signs of uncertainty may be enough to confuse Wall Street after the S&P 500 has risen almost transparently since October, stock prices have skyrocketed, and there is less room for improvement. fault. ..

In addition to these concerns, investors are looking to see if the Federal Reserve could ease the economic support accelerator. And the large amount of government spending to counter the effects of the pandemic means that Congress could go for a destructive chicken game before the US Treasury allows you to borrow more money.

The Federal Reserve will provide the latest updates on economic policy and interest rates on Wednesday.

In energy trading, benchmark US crude rose 61 cents to $ 70.90 a barrel. Brent Crude, an international standard, added 65 cents to $ 74.57 a barrel.

In currency trading, the US dollar rose from 109.39 yen to 109.55 yen. The price of the euro fell from $ 1.1726 to $ 1.1736.