Britain's stocks are falling off a cliff
Britain's stocks are falling off a cliff this morning after a terrible set of Chinese data rocked the markets.
The FTSE 100 dropped by 2% by 8.30 a.m. GMT in the wake of a disappointing manufacturing PMI report for December and further weakening in the Chinese yuan.
The FTSE 100 was reacting to the seismic drop in China's stock markets today, which were only curtailed by a new mechanism the government installed to stop a repeat of the market volatility from last year.
By the close of the China trading session today, China's blue-chip stock index - the CSI 300 - fell by 7%. That's the worst trading day in four months. Overall, Shanghai fell by 6.86% by market close.
After 2015's dramatic Chinese stock market volatility, where more than $5 trillion was erased from global stocks since China unexpectedly devalued its currency in August, the government installed a 15 minute circuit-breaker mechanism that triggers a trading suspension if the CSI 300 index falls by at least 5%. If after trading has resumed and stocks fall by 7%, it will halt trading for the rest of the day.
The rest of the European markets are also faring pretty badly. Germany's DAX is down by over 3%, France's CAC 40 is off over 2%.
And here's to thinking that the first trading week in January in 2016 would be a quiet one: