Wall Street plunges as fiscal cliff, European crisis regain attention (2)

At the same time, the European Union lowered its expectations for the 27-nation economic bloc, saying European nations will see further declines and the road back to recovery will take longer because of the viciousness of the continent's debt crisis.

Adding to the concerns, protesters in Greece clashed with riot police as parliament members got ready to vote on a new round of austerity measures.

If the bill failed to pass, the debt-ridden nation will not get the 31.5 billion euros (about 40.2 billion U.S. dollars) bailout fund from international lenders on Monday.

Meanwhile, fears for the fiscal cliff, caused by the 607- billion-dollar tax increases and government spending cuts that would automatically take effect in January, also cast shadow on the market.

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