Asian and Pacific markets turned mixed on Friday, pulling back from selloffs that have plagued Wall Street and Europe the past two days.
Japan's Nikkei Index dropped more than 6.6 percent in early trading Friday, but cut its loses by afternoon and was down about a percent.
Seoul's KOSPI index pushed into positive territory, gaining 3 percent in afternoon trading, while Australia's All Ordinaries index was off 2.4 percent.
The Taiwan Weighted was up a percent at midday, as was Hong Kong's Hang Seng index.
The Straits Times in Singapore was even on the day, along with Mumbai's BSE SENSEX index.
U.S. markets have slumped about 9 percent since Tuesday's elections as investors started looking at economic realities again.
The Dow fell 4.9 percent on Thursday, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 5 percent and the Nasdaq composite declined by 4.3 percent.
"Everything is so dismal right now, It's just an endless flow of bad news and no one wants to buy," said Dave Rovelli, managing director of U.S. equity trading at Canaccord Adams.
Rovelli said that the steady stream of bad economic reports and weak corporate earnings and forecasts was taking its toll. In particular, the number of companies announcing layoffs was unnerving investors, especially ahead of Friday's big monthly jobs report.
October retail sales from the nation's chain stores were mostly abysmal, with some discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores escaping the fray. The housing market collapse, credit crunch and strained labor market have all taken their toll on consumers' wallets. Even the recent retreat in oil and gas prices has not had much of a positive impact on consumer spending.
"People are realizing that the recession is going to drag on until at least the end of 2009," said Rovelli.
U.S. futures, which offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins in New York on Thursday, were higher, possibly signaling a rebounded after two days of selling.
European markets are having a rough time as well.
London, Paris and Frankfurt all lost 6 percent to 7 percent on Thursday.
