Asia, Europe Stocks Sink on Global Economy Fears Asian and European stock markets were pummeled Monday by the possibility of slowing growth in China and a further reduction in U.S. central bank stimulus. Asian stocks ended sharply lower as investors sought out havens such as the Japanese yen, which strengthened to a seven week high against the dollar, and gold, which was at its highest in more than two months. Japan's Nikkei briefly dipped below 15,000 for the first time since mid-November. In early European trading, the FTSE 100 index of leading British companies dropped 1 percent to 6,600.26 while Germany's DAX dropped 0.5 percent to 9,342.80. France's CAC 40 fell 0.4 percent to 4,142.70. U.S. stocks were poised for a small rebound after tumbling last week. Dow futures edged up 0.1 percent to 15,836.00. Broader S&P 500 futures climbed 0.3 percent to 1,788.40 . Stock prices in emerging markets have been propped up for years by investors seeking higher returns using a tide of so-called "easy money" from the Fed and other central banks. But now that the end for those policies looks to be near, some investors are fleeing stocks. The capital flight has slammed some places particularly hard, such as Argentina, where the peso dropped 16 percent against the dollar over two days last week. Investors are more sensitive to turmoil in emerging markets such as China because they're playing an increasingly large role in the world economy. Emerging and developing economies account for nearly 40 percent of the global economy, up from 18 percent two decades ago, with China's share zipping to 14 percent from 4 percent, according to Societe-Generale. Japan's Nikkei 225 nosedived 2.5 percent to close at 15,005.73. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 2.1 percent to 21,976.10 and Seoul's Kospi dropped 1.6 percent to 1,910.34. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1 percent to 2,033.30. The euro strengthened to $1.3695 from $1.3676. In energy markets, benchmark crude for March delivery was up 42 cents to $97.05 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.