Stocks in Asia were hammered today, led by a steep sell-off for China's Shanghai Composite. Traders were rattled after Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran, and a decline in Caixin's December manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) accelerated selling pressure. In fact, the mainland index's 7% intraday drop triggered a newly implemented circuit breaker, which halted trading for the remainder of the day. By the close, China's Shanghai Composite lost 6.9%, Japan's Nikkei fell 3.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 2.7%, and South Korea's Kospi declined 2.2%.
Markets in Europe are also broadly lower at midday, with traders taking their cues from Asia's dramatic plunge. At midday, the German DAX has dropped 3.8%, France's CAC 40 has fallen 2.7%, and London's FTSE 100 is 2.4% lower.
