Buckle up.
The U.S. markets took a nose dive in the initial moments of trading Monday — the first trading day of 2016 — following the sharp fall in China and amid simmering tensions in the Middle East.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off about 400 points just after 10 a.m. Eastern. And the S&P 500 also was off about 2 percent.
In China, the downturn triggered a halt in trading on concerns about growth in the world's second biggest economy.
As The New York Times reported:
Weak manufacturing data for China and worries about the depreciation of the renminbi pushed Chinese shares sharply lower on Monday, testing a new market circuit breaker on the day it took effect.
Wall Street was beginning to show some stability after the wild open, but it’s not clear if the markets will be able to regain all the lost ground.
In this morning's The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Michael E. Kanell has a piece on the economic signs for 2016 in metro Atlanta.
Nearly six years of growth has brought the metro Atlanta economy to a pivot point: Can the good news go on, or are we due for another slide?
The signs simultaneously point in different directions – strengths and vulnerabilities, along with many unknowns.
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