IMF to meet with world in turmoil

"The world economy is now entering a major downturn in the face of the most dangerous shock in mature financial markets since the 1930s," the IMF warned on Wednesday in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) report.

By Friday, that forecast looked exactly right as Wall Street opened with another unnerving plunge of 700 points after very heavy losses across Europe and in Asia as investors dumped stock to get cash at all costs.

"The crisis is now self-reinforcing and shows no signs of abating," said Chris Lafakis at Economy.com, echoing widely held concerns that measures taken so far to restore confidence have failed to do the job.