It's 2016's first day of trading, and markets around the world are getting slammed. The US stock market is plunging with the Dow down 450 points (2.6%), S&P 500 down 52 points (2.5%), and Nasdaq down 155 points (3.0%). Europe is getting smoked, with Britain's FTSE 100 down 2.2%, Germany's DAX down 4.1%, and France's CAC 40 down 2.5%. The big headline maker was China, where the CSI 300 stock market index crashed 7% before markets were halted for the day. Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng followed China lower, closing down 3.0% and 2.7%, respectively. New data out of China confirmed that manufacturing in the ... (full story)