U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday after the opening bell sounded for the first time since Standard and Poor’s downgraded the U.S.’s credit rating.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday fell five-and-a-half percent, or 634 points, to close at around ten-thousand-800 points while the Nasdaq composite index saw a drop of nearly seven percent.

Meanwhile, Germany, which is considered the euro zone’s main pillar, rejected calls to boost funding for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

European stocks have been falling for the past week, and German stocks plunged five percent.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the Western Texas Intermediate for September delivery slid more than six percent to stand at around 81 dollars per barrel. Gold prices, on the other hand, grew nearly four percent to stand at more than 17-hundred dollars per ounce.

Wall Street is looking to a meeting of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday for signs of measures to help the U.S. avoid another financial recession.