Flickr: Creative Commons by Jef Poskanzer

The Dow Jones Industrial Average followed global markets down the rabbit hole again today, with weak manufacturing numbers and tepid retail figures driving the market down as fears of a recession took hold first in Europe and then in US markets.

At the closing bell, the Dow was down more than 730 points, with the Nasdaq off by 150 points. The net effect is possibly the market re-testing the bottom of 8500 established last week. The question mark here is whether of not that bottom will hold.

Look to Asia overnight for the answer.