Markets Roiled by Nikkei's 7.3 Percent Slide Financial markets around the world were roiled Thursday after Japanese stocks suffered their biggest slide since the country was hit by a devastating tsunami more than two years ago. As a day of huge volatility ended in Europe, a steadier tone on Wall Street was emerging, easing concerns that the latest sell-off in stock markets represents the beginning of a mini-crash at least. The volatility was stoked by a 7.3 percent, or 1,143 points, fall in the Nikkei index to 14,483.98. Many factors for the drop were cited, including a spike in the Japanese government's borrowing costs and unexpectedly weak Chinese manufacturing figures. However, the turn in sentiment in financial markets had its roots in the U.S. on Wednesday and the mixed messages from the Federal Reserve about when it might start scaling back its bond-buying program. While the written testimony to lawmakers from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke appeared to signal that the central bank wasn't ready to change its policy of flooding the economy with money by buying up bonds from banks, subsequent remarks - and the minutes of the Fed's last rate-setting meeting - triggered speculation that a change is afoot. Much of the recovery in global stock markets over the past few years has had its roots in the money-creation policies of a number of the world's leading central banks, including the Fed, the Bank of England and most recently the Bank of Japan. The fresh funds, which have come from the central banks buying financial assets, have found their way into the financial markets. The withdrawal of some of the Fed's stimulus measures has been seen by many in the markets as the greatest threat to stocks for some time. Others say financial markets need to get over their addiction to stimulus and the ending of these emergency central bank policies will be a clear signal that the global economy is healing well from the financial crisis and the deepest recession since World War II. Those longer-term considerations didn't hold much sway during the Asian and European sessions. However, U.S. markets had recovered their poise. "U.S. markets are not showing the same inclination to drop sharply as seen in Japan and Europe, which will give the optimists some hope that the latest dip will prove to be as short-lived as all the others this year," said Rupert Osborne, a futures trader at IG. In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 2.1 percent at 6,696.79. Germany's DAX, which has hit a series of all-time highs recently, also tumbled 2.1 percent to 8,351.98 while the CAC-40 in France fell 2.1 percent at 3,967.15. In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down only 0.1 percent at 15.294 while the broader S&P 500 index fell 0.4 percent to 1,649. U.S. stocks had less room to fall following their falls on Wednesday. Some sort of decline in global indexes, especially in the Nikkei, had been anticipated over recent sessions following a run that's seen many hit historic highs - after all, investors always look to cash in on their profits at some stage. However, the scale of the retreat in Japan in particular has raised questions over the underlying motives behind the rally. The main debate now in the markets is whether Thursday's developments mark the end of the euphoria that has gripped many investors this year.