On the first trading day of 2016 Wall Street experienced huge losses as the financial world reacted to continued economic instability in China. Earlier, the Dow fell more than 450 points, plummeting more than 2.5 percent, on pace for its largest percent decline on the first trading day of the year since 1932. Overnight, Chinese stocks dropped almost 7% Monday, which set-off an emergency “stock circuit breaker” that halted trading on the Chinese markets. Feeble Chinese manufacturing figures and continued tensions in the Middle East were two of the main reasons for the huge fall-offs. Saudi Arabia said yesterday it is cutting diplomatic relations with Iran after protesters set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.
See why China’s failing economy matters to the U.S. courtesy of CNBC below.
Last year Wall Street finished mostly lower. For 2015, the Dow registered a loss of 2.2%, marking the first down year for the Dow since 2008.The S&P 500 index, regarded as a benchmark for the broader stock market, lost 0.7% for 2015. The NASDAQ ended last year with a gain of 5.7%.
Here are the final numbers from Monday, 1/4/16 on Wall Street:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,148.94 (-276.09/ -1.58%)
NASDAQ: 4,903.09 (-104.32/ -2.08%)
S&P 500: 2,012.66 (-31.28 / -1.53%)
