Stocks Plunge as Brexit Shock Continues, Dow Closes Down 261

European stocks and currencies continued their slide following the U.K. vote to leave the European Union

U.S. stocks traded lower Monday as the Dow Jones and S&P extended their post-Brexit sell-off, CNBC reported. The Dow closed down 261 points, roughly 1.5 percent.

European stocks and currencies had earlier continued their slide, with the British pound near $1.32, close to Friday's 30-year low. In afternoon trade, the Dow was off about 300 points before recovering somewhat.

"Day four after the seismic referendum result and the only thing that's crystal clear is that the U.K. is in the midst of one hell of a political crisis," Chris Scicluna, head of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets, said in a note.

Still, Asian indexes closed higher Monday with Japan's Nikkei up 2.4 percent after reports that Tokyo would step in, if necessary, to stabilize the yen.

Friday's rout knocked $2.08 trillion off global equity markets in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, a record daily loss that trumped even the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy during the 2008 financial crisis and the Black Monday crash of 1987, NBC News reported.

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