A sharp drop in China was felt on stock markets everywhere Monday.

There were two main reasons.

First, weak Chinese manufacturing data rekindled fears of a global slowdown.

Factory activity in the world’s second-largest economy shrank sharply in December, sparking a near 7% slide in Chinese shares that triggered a halt in trading.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX index tumbled 4%.

In North America, Toronto was off 83-points to 12,927.

Dow Jones plunged more than 400 during the day but recovered somewhat to close down 276 to 17,148.

Nasdaq fell 104 to 4,903.

Secondly, observers also blame tensions in the Middle East between Saudi Arabia and Iran for the negative start to 2016.