Wall Street buried itself firmly in the red at the close of trading yesterday following official confirmation that the American economy has been in recession for the last year.

The National Bureau of Economic Research said the US began a recession in December 2007, citing the continuing decline in unemployment since that month as a key factor in its formal definition.

As a result, the Dow Jones dropped by more than 7.5 percent while NASDAQ stocks lost almost nine percent of their value.

The news was reflected in trading across the Atlantic — all of Europe’s major markets closed down by around five percent.

Copyright © 2012 euronews