REUTERS/Stringer
A man looks at a contaminated river in Cangnan county of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province.
The Dow was off by as much as 379 points.
The S&P 500 is on track to close the week down by over 4%.
And commodities like oil and copper have been getting wrecked.
For some context, NYSE floor governor Rich Barry offers some ugly stats in his mid-day email:
1- This is the worst week for the market since 2011.
2- Keep an eye on Dow 16,510... That is the level where the Dow would enter 'official correction territory' -- off 10% from its recent high.)
3- The S&P 500 is now down 4.5% for the week. The last 4%+ weekly drop was week of 5/8/12. It has happened ten times since the Bull began its run in March '09. The average move the following week has been +2.3%.
4- The Dow has not experienced back-to-back down 300+ point days in the Dow since November 2008.
5- Oil hit its lowest level since March 2009. (The S&P 500 was trading below 700 in March 2009.)
6- The VIX, (fear index), is up 82% for the week(!).
"In sum, it is ugly," Barry said.
That being said, this clearly isn't Barry's first rodeo.
"However, market corrections are a fact of life, and they can be a healthy occurrence in the long run. Plus, we were certainly due for a pullback."