The DAX, a titan of European finance, was shattered into pieces on Friday morning. Its fall below the 18,000-point threshold sent shockwaves reverberating through global markets. The aftershocks of Thursday's seismic market drop were amplified, as investors grappled with the stark reality of a deepening crisis. Disastrous earnings from the tech behemoths and the specter of a looming recession cast a long, dark shadow over the market. The German index shed a steep 1.29% to 17,850 points in the immediate aftermath of the Xetra market open, compounding the previous day's 2.3% loss. August was off to a dismal start, and there was no respite in sight. The MDax, tracking mid-cap companies, tumbled 1.72% to 24,571 points, while the EuroStoxx 50, the eurozone's leading index, sank 0.8%. The contagion spread to US and Asian markets, as investors grappled with the fallout. Japan's Nikkei index plummeted nearly six percent, following a 1.2% decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Aver...