FTSE CRASH - Markets hit 3-year low
Britain's flagship stock index, the FTSE 100 closed at the lowest level since October 2012 on Friday evening.
The FTSE dropped by 1.97% on the day, ending the second week of the year at 5801 points. Here's how it looked:
The FTSE was led lower by Britain's mining companies. The five biggest fallers on the index just happen to be the five biggest mining firms listed. Anglo American, the stricken miner which announced a major restructuring last month, was bottom of the pile, down nearly 12% on the day, and plunging to another all-time low.
A big crash in stocks in China earlier in the day, along with oil's drop to less than $30 per barrel for the first time in over a decade, helped push the index to its low.
British stocks weren't the only ones affected though, and many of Europe's major bourses dropped by more than 3%. Here's a snapshot of markets across the continent:
- Eurostoxx 50 - down 2.67%
- German DAX 30 - down 2.56%
- French CAC 40 - down 2.46%
- Spanish IBEX 35 - down 2.85%
- Italian FTSE MIB - down 2.94%
American stocks are also trading lower, and at the market close in Europe, the S&P 500, and Dow 30 both saw losses of more than 2.3%, with the Nasdaq just over 3% in the red.
So. 2016's second week wasn't much better than its first.