A man scratches his head in front of an electronic board displaying falls in major market indices around the world, outside a brokerage in Tokyo
A man scratches his head in front of an electronic board displaying falls in major market indices around the world, outside a brokerage in Tokyo August 9, 2011. The Nikkei stock average closed down 1.7 percent on Tuesday, having trimmed losses on bargain hunting after the index tumbled more than 4 percent in the wake of a plunge on Wall Street and a downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt. REUTERS/Issei Kato

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 520 points on Wednesday wiping out Tuesday's rebound as investors continue to worry about the European debt crisis and the health of the global banking system.

The Dow's 4.62 percent drop has placed the blue-chip index back below the 11,000 level, closing at the lowest level since last September.

The Standard & Poor's 500 ended the day down 52 points, or 4.42 percent. The Nasdaq was also saw a downward trend of 101 points, or 4.09 percent. The Dow's loses wiped out the 4 percent gained on Tuesday, and the S&P and the Nasdaq closed barely above Monday's level.

The Dow lost more than 2,000 in less than three weeks.

America bank stocks were hugely affected because investors remain worried that the debt problem overseas may hit home in the U.S., according to The Associated Press.

The press agency has reported that France is now under pressure because there are concerns that it could be the next country to lose its triple-A credit rating. Those concerns have led the French president to cut his vacation short and promised to lower the country's debts, the AP said.

But the U.S. isn't the only country to see changes in its stocks. Countries such as Britain, Italy and Germany also saw the stocks in their leading banks hammered, the AP said, which could result in a chain reaction considering that large U.S. banks have loans in Europe.

Dow jones Germany Germany United kingdom