Asian stocks down amid European debt crisis

Japans Nikkei 225 lost 1.5 percent to 8,742.57 and Hong Kongs Hang Seng plunged 3.5 percent to 18,226.75. South Koreas Kospi fell 1.5 percent to 1,836.50.Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines were also lower.In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.3 percent to 2,408.27. The government announced that growth declined to 9.1 percent in the three months through September, down from 9.5 percent the previous quarter.While the government said the slippage was in line with efforts to bring economic growth to a more sustainable level, any slowdown intentional or not could weigh on the global economic recovery.Expectations that a solution to the European crisis could be reached at a European summit in Brussels this weekend helped lift stocks last week. But stock markets in Europe and the U.S. tumbled Monday after German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said those expectations were too optimistic.The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 2.1 percent to close at 11,397. The S&P 500 index lost 1.9 percent to 1,200.86. The Nasdaq composite index fell 2 percent to 2,614.92.A batch of weak corporate earnings reports also pulled stocks lower, while news on the U.S. economy was mixed. A measure of U.S. industrial production rose for a third month, but a gauge of New York area manufacturing fell more than Wall Street expected.Concerns about a messy default by the Greek government have been the main cause behind many of the big swings on the worlds stock markets lately.The fear is that a default would cause deep losses for European banks that hold Greek bonds. That could lead to a freeze in lending between banks and escalate into another financial crisis similar to the one that occurred in 2008 after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.