On February 22nd 2011, fears of a double-dip recession cause Stock markets across the world to drop. The Federal Reserve announced that it would be moving along with their plan to spend $400 billion on bond-buying. The purpose of this bond-buying plan is specifically to protect the economy from falling into a double-dip recession.
The European market was affected first, but the United States market was not far behind. Many were expected to open up around 100 points lower than where they closed off. Even though the announcement on behalf of the Federal Reserve did affect the stock markets across the world negatively they did go back up in due time.