What's going on?

Stocks around the world sold off -- with China once again leading the way down. Chinese stocks closed 8.5% lower for the day while European and American stocks sold off 5% and 4% respectively. This may not sound like much, but those are huge moves for the world�s largest stock markets!

What does this mean?

China�s slowing growth and the sell off in its stock market (it�s down 40% from its June peak) is causing a lot of concern now around the world. For example, the US economy has been doing pretty well: it is growing at a relatively low but steady rate, the housing market is doing well and unemployment is still trending lower. But a global slowdown, led by China, could certainly lower profits at US companies, many of whom sell goods in China. It�s unclear how bad the fallout from China will be � and that�s (mainly) what investors are grappling with right now.

Why should I care?

1. If you own stocks, you probably lost a considerable amount of money. Hopefully you own them within a balanced portfolio, which means you own some �safer� assets � like government bonds � that went up in value.
2. Big market corrections like this often produce great opportunities. The US economy, in particular, appears to still be doing well. It�s impossible to predict the bottom, but deploying cash or �rebalancing� out of some �safe haven� assets into stocks could be a good, long-term idea.