The record Wall Street stock plunge overnight wiped approximately $US1.2 trillion ($A1.45 trillion) off the market value - the first-ever trillion-dollar one-day loss.
The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000, the broadest measure of market activity, calculated the loss, which is almost double the size of the rescue package rejected by the US Congress overnight.
Markets around the world panicked after US lawmakers voted down the $US700 billion ($A845.67 billion) bailout for the financial system, raising the prospect of deeper financial turmoil.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 777.68 points (6.98 per cent) to close at 10,365.45, in its biggest single-day point decline ever.
The 6.98 per cent drop, however, does not make the top 10 greatest percentage losses.
By contrast, on "Black Monday", October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones index dropped by 22.61 per cent.
"We need to work as quickly as possible. We need to get something done," US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told reporters at the White House after meeting with President George W Bush.
"We believe that our plan, and the plan that we developed with congressional leaders and worked so hard, is a plan that works. And we need a plan that works."
AFP