Markets in the U.S. and around the world tumbled in response to Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, which created a wave of financial uncertainty.
In the U.S., Dow Jones futures were down nearly 3 percent, while both the Nasdaq and S&P were down more than 3 percent, according to Yahoo News:
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Oil prices, which have slowly risen all year from multi-year lows, was also down nearly 5 percent.
The most direct effect of the vote was the prospect of how Britain would re-establish its trade and financial links to Europe. President Obama also warned this year that a vote to leave might put Britain further down the list of countries the U.S. and others would seek out to negotiate new agreements.
Those circumstances could play out over the next two years, which is the timeline for an actual exiting of the European Union.
But the 52-48 vote in favor of leaving also created more immediate ripples that also seemed to be rattling markets. British Prime Minister David Cameron resigned in the wake of the vote.
And perhaps even more importantly, politicians in France and the Netherlands were also calling for their own votes on EU membership.
The prospect of a slow-rolling breakup of the EU, spooked markets around the world. Equity prices were down nearly 8 percent in Japan, and fell by smaller amounts in Asia.
Markets in Europe also fell across the board.
