Despite a late Wall Street rally yesterday, Asian stocks plummeted for the fourth day in a row—driven as much by panic as by any other factor. Toyota, Canon and Mitsubishi all slipped badly, along with the Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index, which was off 1.8 percent, and Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average, which fell 2.5percent, Bloomberg reports.
Toyota was headed for its biggest loss in four years. For every stock that gained, two fell. "The market's frightened. It's not sure what it's frightened of, but it's still running away,'' said an investment fund manager. "It may take time for calm heads to prevail.'' (More Asian markets stories.)