>> this is al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. live in new york city. we're following breaking news. wall street is plunging this hour. this is a live look at the big board. the new york stock exchange down now about 645 points, which means it is bouncing back a little from the open. the markets earlier were down more than 1,000 points. the worst open since the financial crisis in 2008. ali velshi is with me right now. how rare is it for the dow to drop this precipitously. >> very rare. in 2008 the day the house did not approve the stimulus bill, the dow dropped later in the

afternoon and then recovered. we had the flash crash, most people don't count that. that was not a sentiment-driven thing. it was a technically-driven thing. that is the biggest drop the dow has ever seen. to look at 640 points lower and think, wow, that's an improvement of 400 points from where this was, we're just a half hour into trading. this is a fairly serious matter. the dow is do yo down 1600 points from in the week. >> we saw this i, and it was not surprising. what is the sentiment that is driving this? >> first of all on friday night you saw that the market closed down more than 500 points. one thing that we look at when we follow markets, it closed down on a down tick. it was going down when it closed.

>> closing stopped it. >> closing stopped it from going down furthers. what always happens as asian markets pick up on that. those numbers are remarkable. then it went into europe, which moderated a little bit, then we started with this. because of the velocity of these losses in new york, europe, which is still open, has seen further losses. there are three things at play here. one is china, trying to shift its economy to a more american modeler where, the net result is that chinese goods will be cheaper. chinese factories will make their money going into fac going in. oil is going down.

this is creating some prosperi prosperity, and creating problems for governments. >> and the oil suppliers continue to produce. >> why doesn't opec. stop it? but oil is producing more oil than it has ever produced. the cost of oil has dropped to under $40 a barrel. why would we raise interest rates in this environment? when you keep it low, it confuses the whole issue. europe, which was recovering continues to slow down because of contentions with russia. all around the world things are going on that don't look all that great. >> let's pars this out. the concerns about chinese growth which are, what, 6 or 7%, and the concern about emerging markets, how grounded is that in the reality that markets are slowing down versus the perception that investors have.

>> that's a very good point. nowhere in the world are markets tied in the economy the way they are in the u.s. and europe. the chinese economy and the chinese market has never been closely tied. when it was 10% a year, you never saw those gains on the stock market any way. but in terms of the extra money, it comes from china and the middle east. both regions where you're announcing a slow down. who is going to buy your stock? who is going to buy your fancy buildings and the companies that have been in jeopardy? it's been the chinese and middle east countries. now oil is down 60% and chinese is suffering because their economic experiment is not working. >> how much does it effect the merging market growth? there is precedence that it has in 2000 with the dot-com bust. and then precedent to show the asian financial crisis, and the u.s. had strong gdp.

>> we're focusing on the dow because it has a board that we can look at, which is moderating a little bit, only-- >> a 300 point difference in just three minutes. >> and expect to see this throughout the day. here's the issue. the s&p 500, which is with a your 401k should look like is 500 major companies. if you take those 500 companies and look at the revenue of those 500 companies, mao than half of that revenue is generated outside of america. >> okay. >> in fact, the behavior of consumers outside of america is more influential to your increase in your 401k than what is going on here. we tend to look at how does the performance of the outside markets effect the american market? but in fact, the way your 401k performance, this dow has much more to g to do with what is going on in middle east, africa, asia than what is going on in

americ america. >> and nasdaq by the way is down much more than both of these markets and has been for the last week. when you think stocks are valued too high, the ones that you think are the most highly valued come down the most. these tech stocks have been on a terror. >> there may be some bubbles. let's not get into that. let's talk about the 401 ks. there are people like you and i who are nowhere near retiring, at least me, and then there are people who are looking at retirement in the next year or two and wondering is this the end of the bull market we've seen for the last six years, and i'll have to cash out at a time and my 401k is in the dumps. >> yes, that's a problem. ththe chinese market has been in a terror. don't boor timing it but pair it and rebalance. take out your winnings and buy something lower.

if you've been doing that the last six years, march 9, 2009, that's when the bear market began, these losses are not significant to you. if you've been invested and you haven't been doing t these losses still have not cut in a your over all gains. this is different from 2008 where it really wiped out people's gains. but let this be a lesson to you today, if you have taken some losses, if you can log in to your 401k, understand that you will a he have some things that have gained. you may want to pair those and buy some losses. not everyone believes that loyal will survive at $30, and it won't survive at $20. the issue is timing. this is your window to retire, this is a problem. if it's not your window to retire, it's not your problem. >> it's a real early.

>> this could be a few days. i mentioned march 9th because no one knew that would be the day in 2009 that everyone was done with this recession and everyone thought stocks were fairly valued. who knows. it may be today or three months from today. but it will come. when you saw the market opening, you saw is plummeting and then stopping, and then it went to 1,030, and then it came up again. you'll see this tension throughout the day. 475-- >> is that partially because people go in and they look for bargains and they're buying stuff. >> yes, when everyone else is running out, that may be the best time to run in. i don't think people like us who do not do this for a living do this, but the professionals are doing this. >> and they are doing it, which is why we're seeing the fluctuations. >> the dow isal 15,500. these are high levels. the nasdaq, the s&p, they all hit highs in may. people think that's okay if

there is a correction. it's not the end of the world. this is supposed to happen. >> still at this level, hovering at this level. >> before the recession in--market hit a high in october of 2007, that was 14,000. now that's just to put into perspective. this has not been the wipe out of people. this has been a rough market. you should know when 2 gets rough. >> there are certain economic reports especially with jobs, job growth that has shown consistently that the recovery has taken hold. >> we have a lot of excess in the job market. we're down 5.3% unemployment. we're creating the jobs, because there was so much excess what you're not seeing is wage increases because there are too many workers out there. but you're seeing wage pressure combined with socio-political pressure. >> but it's not robust. >> it is absolutely not robust. it's coming in slowly. housing remains strong because

it is free to get a mortgage if you can get one. credit scores are lower than they needed to be to get the best mortgage rates. you can get a 30-year mortgage for under 4%. in 2008 everything was falling apart on every side, jobs, housing, everything was going wrong. >> how did janet yellen look at a day like this. you were looking at other indicators including low interest rates creating a stronger housing market. does the fed look at the market and look at what is happening in china and think, hmm, not a good time to raise rates? >> that's probably what they're thinking. we look at top line pieces that are easy to understand. there are a lot of very complicated little pieces of data that most people can't figure out that the fed looks at to determine trend. they're also wondering when does this end, but yes, at this moment if janet yellen had to make a decision about interest rates going up this year, the answer is probably no. but again this could change by

the end of the stay, the end of the week, the month, we could be back and no one will remember that this conversation happened. >> i spoke to an economist this morning who said that it's like a drug, this cheap money, we're seeing it with the fed in quantitative using. we're going to see it with what the chinese government does to prop up the markets there, is that a long-term strategy for economic success? >> government intervention in your economy is exactly a drug. once you've done it, it's very hard to pull out. it's important to know that the reason why we've had a six-year bull run, it's not a coincidence. it's been six years since the federal reserve decided to put billions of dollars in the economy. typically when you do that, the value of your own currency goes down. but it has not happened because other countries in the world are suffering more than america. the bottom line is that is the drug. the minute the fed pulls out this will look like a day at the park. markets will suffer. so please, everybody, know what

you hold, and know what you should be doing with it. that's different for everybody. >> we want to take a closer look t at this. adrian brown has more from beijing. >> the shares sell off began within minutes. at one point the index fell by 9% recove recovering only slightly. on monday the government announced a new and risky intervention to prop up the market by using billions of dollars. but it failed to stop the slide. >> how can the markets drop every day like this? one, two, three, four, five, the market dropped for five days, and it never rose back. >> many borrowed to buy shares and now are being forced to sell those shares to pay back the

loans. >> the chinese market aims to eliminate the middle class. after eliminating the middle class, the middle class will have no purchasing power, and the market won't be flourishing. >> worse still the value of their pensions could be at risk if the markets decline continues. >> i think the government could solve this problem probably. the government wants to put all the pension money on the stock market. >> the government wants to reassure the investors, but everything it has tried has failed. since june the shanghai index has lost 30% of its value, and analysts warn that it's likely to continue. >> once the chinese shares dragged out markets. the main reason, a fear that the slow down in china's economy is worse than the government is letting on.

the south korea closed down by nor than 2%. it's sixth consecutive loss, and australia suffererred it's biggest one-day fall in four years down by 4%. what all these markets desperately need but don't have is investor confidence. adrian brown, al jazeera, beijing. >> let's talk more about what is happening on wall street right now without al with ali velshi. oil prices is now $40 a barrel. >> a little over under 40. we crossed this morning and it's hovering around $40. >> doesn't that help consumers and growing economies. >> yes, the last time i had a robust conversation about oil prices was when they were about $50, meaning global economists said on balance the 50% drop in

the price of oil since last year it hurts companies, and it hurts governments because governments get taxes out of oil, but it hell's consumers. on balance the benefit, particularly low income consumers is so much better for the global economy than the loss of tax revenue and profitability to oil companies. would that equation might have changed. at some point you see companies not only slow down production but stop production. below $57 to $60, this fracking where our extra oil comes from in the united states becomes unprofitable unless you've been doing it from the beginning and your stuff is all paid for. >> have consumers been spending that money or have they been saving it? >> it's hard to tell. you really know in the absence of everything else because we also have low interesting rates. we don't know what is happening. generally speaking americans

tend or historically tended to spend up until the amount that me make. where you see aned a-on in energy prices it takes away from something. it's not clear that when you see a subtraction what they do with it, but even if it puts money this their pocket its generally good where we have dealt with income equality. at what point does it become unsustainable. at $30 a barrel it may be that companies cannot afford to produce oil. they shut down and then they get more unemployment. energy has become the biggest employers in this last decade. you can go to north dakota. there are problems but you can go to north dakota that could have paid you $100,000 a year. which is double. >> once they start to cutting back on production, that becomes an issue. i just want to take one more look at the big board. just in the 16 minutes that we've been talking, the dow is now down. it is down 2.5%. >> i think this is early in the

day. we have to see what happens and determine--i don't know that we come out with a positive day. some traders have determined this is the end and it's time to buy stocks. >> ali velshi, thank you. more news from our newsroom in doha, right after this quick break. ♪ ♪ ♪ get excited for the 1989 world tour with exclusive behind the scenes footage, all of taylor swift's music videos, interviews, and more. xfinity is the destination for all things taylor swift. great time for a shiny floor wax, no?

not if you just put the finishing touches on your latest masterpiece. timing's important. comcast business knows that. that's why you can schedule an installation at a time that works for you. even late at night, or on the weekend, if that's what you need. because you have enough to worry about. i did not see that coming. don't deal with disruptions. get better internet installed on your schedule. comcast business. built for business. >> hello again. these are our top stories. a new strategy to tackle europe's refugee crisis. the u.n. said 7,000 refugee have arrived in macedonia since

saturday. migrants and refugees have fought police in the italian city, they've been blocking roads over living continues in a temporary shelter. u.s. markets have lost more than 1,000 points in the first few minutes of trading. it was a day of heavy losses in asian and european markets. 20 people have been killed in anti-government protests in nepal. it happened in the west of the country. we go live to our correspondent who is in kathmandu. tell us what happened. >> what we sundays that a large group of protesters attacked police personnel killing 17 police personnel including, two inspectors, and three civilians

have been killed in this attack. now the wh the area has been tense over the past two weeks. that's because two sides have been protesting against the way nepal was being federated, they said it was arbitrary, and they wanted to know more--they wanted a separate state for themselves, especially th a marginalized group of indigenous people. so tension has been increasing, but this kind of violence was unprecedented, and these three violence has broken in other districts to the curfew has been announced, a.

>> the deadlines being pushed all the time, we were supposed to get the constitution on the 16th of august. the problem has always been this idea of federalism. the last time--this is a second time that they're attempting to write a constitution. and the last time it failed because they could not agree on the federal states. so we're not quite sure how far this will go, they had given months to complete the institution and it's still going on with protest, and it's still unsure where we might get the constitution in nepal. >> live from kathmandu. thank you very much.

more than 2 million farm workers including children travel around mexico picking fruit and vegetables. much of the produce goes to the u.s. and europe. it is a fraction of what agriculture workers are paid in the united states, and man endure terrible condition conditions. we look at the state of jalisco. >> they move around the country to pick crops. it is illegal for this 8-year-old to be picking crops. >> i have to buy ruck sacks and all those things so i can go to school. >> but she has already missed a year of classes. the reality is that crop pickers rely on every pair of hands to get by, often at the expense of

their children's education. it is not just the young who is vulnerable in an often unscrupulous market. these young workers where free to come and go as they please and they're paid daily but their wages and i.d.s are held illegally until the end of the harvest season this week authorities rescued pickers, including children who live in rat-infested rooms. but workers and supervisors say it's rare for authorities to check what is going on in the fields. >> they only come to ask for your vote. after that they don't know you, they don't come here or think about anyone working here. >> years of neglect have led to one of the country's biggest agriculture strikes. farm workers, the pickers around

mexico continue to work for as little as $6 a day. the youngest of them, like eduardo, spending their childhoods in hard labor. al jazeera, haliscjalisco state, mexico. >> calling for a five-day strike, farmers say they have been forced to stop growing their crops because they can't forward it. we have reports from northern argentina. >> back on the roads, these farmers in the northern provin province, their demands have gone unheeded for years. they say that they're in economic crisis. >> we're here because our production in the northern part of al jazeera has a terminal disease. it's not viable. next year there won't be any crops in this part of the country.

>> jose has been a farmer here for decades. he took us to his ranch. he said that the situation is so complicated that many in the area are thinking of selling their land. >> this is terrible. not to have this land with crops. the humidity is the right one, but we have to spend a lot of money, and it's not that easy. >> he said the big problem is the exchange rate with the u.s. dollar. in argentina there is an official rate and local rate. >> in the case of the soybean we have to pay a 35% export tax. of that valley w value is 60% less of the real dollar. it is impossible. >> that's why they put roadblocks here for a third week. the local government has granted some tax ex-temperatures. farmers say that the closest

port is over 1,000 kilometers away. that's why many have decided not to sell their crops because the freight is so expensive that they cannot afford it. across argentina farmers are making similar demands. since the center left government of christin cristina kirchner has imposed an extra tax on crops, it has been difficult. >> the government has taken the farming sector as an enemy. the former president said that he wanted to put us on our knees and that the message is still in place. >> presidential elections are two months away. the government said that this isn't the right time for a strike. farmers here think differently, and say that they will block the roads until at least some of their demands are met. al jazeera, argentina. >> the ebola epidemic in west

africa could soon be over. one of the worst effected countries in sierra leone will release it's last patient from hospital on monday. liberia has had no known cases in several weeks. guinea with several cases reported each week. malaysia has launched an ambitious project to transform it's capital to one of the most livable cities in the world. part of our special series to mark world water week. we go to the water ways of kuala lumpur, which has long been used as dumping grounds for waste. >> a hidden oasis on the outskirts of kuala lumpur. this is why jeani lee grew up chasing fish and insects. now as an adult she spends her time trying to preserve this pristine environment. >> i'm worried to lose this.

you can never see this any more in malaysia. >> after decades of neglect dozens of volunteers like jeannie are cleaning up the rivers that run through kuala lumpur. their work is a vital part of the government's plan to provide 110 kilometers of the city's rivers. here in their neighborhood they've had remarkable success, but down stream this natural wonderland turns into an open drain. >> unfortunately, over time people have disconnected their life from the river. that has led to the current status of the river. it will be seen as a channel. >> as the city has grown these rivers have turned into a dumping ground for factories, construction sites, and even homes. but in 2010 the government launched the river of life project aimed at rejuvenating

this area into the center for work and recreation. >> it might not look like much at the moment but this entire riverfront is earmarked for redevelopment. the government is spending more than $1 billion, and they're hoping that the investment will bring tourism and business opportunities. officials say that they aim to recoupe the funds they're spending through the sale of land once the project is complete. current trends suggest their returns will be lucrative. >> since 2011 up to now the land values that the government owes or even around the areas that the government owns has increased by 50%. that's a major positive development for us. >> by the time construction is completed in five years, developers are confident that the project will generate billions of dollars for the state. but the benefits to the environment may well be

priceless. al jazeera, kuala lumpur. >> now, to www.aljazeera.com not only can you keep up-to-date with all the day's top stories, the developing stories, breaking news, you can also get a lot of background and analysis and there is some very interesting opinion and common pieces, too. >> from 1,000 point drop from the open to this, wall street rebounding from a scary fall earlier. >> receiving france's top honor power people including three americans praised for stopping a gunman on a train. and a new wave of firefighters battle to battle flames in the pacific northwest, but good weather may make the situation more dangerous.