Yesterday European stocks and US futures retreated, with the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index heading for its biggest weekly loss since November 2008, as concern escalated the economic recovery is stalling. Asian shares sank.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc plunged 8% after reporting a first-half net loss that was wider than analysts had estimated. Allianz SE, Europe’s biggest insurer, lost 3.8% after reporting second-quarter net income that missed analysts’ estimates. Dexia SA dropped 3.4% after Belgium’s largest bank by assets posted the biggest quarterly loss in its history.

The FTSE, the DAX and the CAC 40 were all more than 2% lower at the open. Italian and Belgian bonds dropped during the day, while Spanish bonds climbed.

Thursday’s losses on the Dow were the biggest in a single session since late 2008 as investors took fright at the debt crisis in the euro zone, signs of growth slowing sharply and attempts by Japan and Switzerland to drive their currencies lower.

Later on Friday, Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero are expected to hold a conference call later today to discuss the crisis in the euro zone following a warning from European Commission President Jose-Manuel Barroso for a bigger rescue fund, a call which was immediately rebuffed by Germany.

Japanese stocks plunged by the most in more than four months, as concern the global economy is stalling triggered an equities rout that drove the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its worst slump since 2009. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 3.7% sliding the most since 15 March. The broader Topix index plunged 3.1%. For the week, the Nikkei lost 5.4%while the Topix index dropped 4.8%, the biggest weekly declines since the five-day period following Japan’s earthquake.