this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. a nasty stock sell-off today in markets all around the world on new fears about a global recession. and susie, there are growing worries that europe s financial problems could spread to the u.s. susie: tom, investors also dumped stocks on several negative reports on the u.s. economy s performance in july: an uptick in inflation the consumer price index rose more than expected; weak home sales national association of realtors said existing home sales dropped by 3.5%, worse than expected; a significant slowdown in manufacturing the philadelphia federal reserve said its regional index plunged to a reading of minus-30; and from the job market a spike in filings for unemployment benefits, up by 9,000. tom: now, that picture of a stalling u.s. economy led to massive selling on wall street. the dow tu