Global markets are melting down

FinViz

Global markets are getting smoked again.

Dow futures are down 315 points, S&P 500 futures are down 40 points, and Nasdaq futures are down 93 points.

It's a bloodbath in Europe with Britain's FTSE, Germany's DAX, France's CAC 40, and Spain's IBEX all down by more than 2%.

Asian markets closed deep in the red with Japan's Nikkei plunging 3.8%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng falling 2.2%, and China's Shanghai Composite tumbling 1.3%.

Here's a quick round up of the key headlines we've gotten since US markets closed on Monday.

• China's is slowing. China's official manufacturing PMI fell from 50.0 in July to 49.7 in August, the lows reading since August 2012. The unofficial Caixin-Markit manufacturing PMI slipped to 47.3 in August from 47.8 in July, signaling the sharpest contraction since March 2009.
• Europe is slowing. The eurozone manufacturing PMI slipped to 52.3 in Augustfrom 52.5 in July. Italy, Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, and Austria all experienced deterioration in growth. Meanwhile, Frane's PMI fell to a four-month low of 48.3, which reflects outright contraction.
• The world is slowing. Korean exports crashed 14.7% in August from a year ago, reflecting the clearest sign that the world economy has hit a snag. This number was much worse than the 5.9% decline expected, and it was also the biggest drop since August 2009. Korea is a major supplier of automobiles, electronics, and petrochemicals to the world. And because this is the first monthly set of hard numbers from a major economy, Korean exports are considered a bellwether of global growth.

Following last week's market's chaos, which saw the Dow plunge 1,089 in less than a day, Wall Street's stock market gurus were quick to point out that the fundmental story of the economy had not shifted.

"We think the 10.2% decline in global equities since 21st May has more to do with a shift in sentiment towards the asset class rather than a substantial change in fundamentals," Barclays Ian Scott said.

But with new data signaling more slowdown, is it possible that the markets were right the first time?