REUTERS/David Gray Gunther Weidlinger of Austria falls during the heats of the men's 3000 metres steeplechase at the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championship in Osaka August 26, 2007.
The major share markets opened down today, as investors sold positions ahead of China's stock market opening on Sunday.
Germany and Hong Kong also posted worse than expected economic numbers.
German factory orders declined 1.4% between June and July, more than double the 0.6% anticpated by analysts, while Hong Kong's PMI numbers plunged to the lowest in six years, leading to lossses in the Asian markets.
German construction purchasing managers index dropped to a seven-month low of 50.3.
Mic Mills, head of client services at CapitalIndex said: "Weighing heavily on markets today though will be the worry of where China will open on Sunday night and whether we will see another drag on the world's economy from them."
Here's what the markets are doing:
France's CAC40: -1.62%
Germany's DAX: -1.66%
Italy's FTSE MIB: -1.71%
And the Euro Stoxx 50, an index of the continent's 50 biggest company's is down 1.56% on Friday.
Here's the chart:
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