European stocks tumbled and US equity markets prepared for steep falls after Chinese shares had their worst day since 2007 – intensifying a stock market rout driven by fears about the world’s second-biggest economy.
In lunchtime trading local time, the FTSE 100 had fallen almost 4.5% to 5,914 points, wiping more than £60bn off the index of leading UK shares. It was the first time the index had dropped below the 6,000 mark since early 2013, with almost all companies in the red, and followed a week of declines last week.
