REUTERS/Brendan McDermidThis is not a good way to start 2015.European markets opened up this morning, after major sell-offs both in east Asia and the middle east. The major indices are now close to flat.
Here's the scorecard as of 9.10 a.m. GMT:
France's CAC 40: -0.76%
Germany's DAX: -0.74%
Spain's IBEX: -0.84%
Italy's FTSE MIB: -0.41%
The Nikkei saw its biggest drop in 10 months, down 3.02%, followed by Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, which ended 1.03% lower. The Shanghai Composite index closed up just 0.03%, effectively flat.
Stock markets in the Arab world are getting hammered too, following the falling oil price:
Dubai Financial Market: -7.07%
Saudi Tadawul: -3.35%
Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange: -2.11%
US futures are falling a little. The S&P is currently 3 points lower, and the Dow is down 20 points. That's after a four day sell-off running to yesterday, breaking the longest streak in 87 years without one.
US PMI readings are coming at 2.45 p.m. GMT, followed by official factory orders numbers 15 minutes later. Analysts are expected a 0.5% drop in orders for November, from October's level.