Oil stocks and bonds surged after the largest terrorist attacks in the U.S. history destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon.

Most European stock indexes registered their biggest declines since the 1987 market crash. Insurers have taken the brunt of the fear espoused by the attacks.

The principal losers have been Swiss Reinsurance Co. and Axa SA. Swiss Re and Munich Re, the world’s two biggest reinsurers, fell 17% and 16% respectively. Axa dropped 3.51 euros, or 13%, to 22.89 euros.

The American dollar fell 1.7% against the euro, to 91.47. That’s the biggest drop in five months. U.S. stocks traded in Europe fell. IBM dropped $6.83 to $89.64 on the German DAX. Procter & Gamble Co. shed $7.42 to $66.78, and Microsoft Corp. fell $5.44 to $52.14. General Electric Co. slid $2.81 to $36.54.

Airline stocks also fell. British Airways Plc, the most active transatlantic air service, dropped 21% to 208p. Lufthansa AG, Europe’s No. 2 airline, dropped 2.31 euros to 13 euros.

Analysts are predicting that Japanese stocks are likely to decline in Wednesday trading. The Nikkei 225 Index could drop below 10,000 for the first time since August 1984. Nikkei 225 futures fell as low as 10,000 before trading was halted in Chicago, down from 10,320 in Osaka Tuesday.

Shares of oil companies gained with the price of crude. Crude oil traded in London rose as much as 13% to US$31.05. Gold rose as much as US$18.95 to US$290.50 an ounce, its biggest one-day gain since May.