World stock markets take beating amid China’s market meltdown

World stock markets took a beating Monday as China’s main index fell 8.5 percent--the largest since February 2007 -- driven by growing fears that China’s economy is slowing more than many investors had anticipated.

"Anybody with a pulse was nervous when the market opened. We're still going to see significant price swings both up and down before the day ends today," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

"The only thing that's certain is the volatility is going to continue in the short term, given the magnitude of the moves that we've already had in the last four days."

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The Dow Jones nosedived minutes after the opening bell, falling 1,089 points--the single largest drop since October 2008, when the financial crisis was in full effect.  

According to Bloomberg, the Dow’s closing point loss for the day was 586.53 points, or 3.56 percent, to 15,873.22. It’s the eighth worse one-day point loss in history and worst daily point decline since August 8, 2011.

The drop in China’s equities essentially wipes out all their gains for 2015 and analysts and media were quick to label today’s market free fall as the Chinese “Black Monday.”

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For the mining industry, few stocks were immune to the collapse. The biggest fallers were Glencore -- falling eight percent -- and BHP Billiton and Anglo American, both losing more than seven percent of their value.

Stocks closed down more than eight percent in Shanghai and more than four percent in Tokyo. Markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt were all down more than four percent. London’s FTSE 100 (FTSE), ended down 4.7 percent for its tenth straight decline – its worst run since 2003.

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