Equity futures will begin the new trading year in the hole on concerns about China’s and overall global growth.

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Dow Jones futures were falling by 400 points or 2 percent. The S&P 500 also fell 2 percent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2 percent.

The concern is about data that continues to show a slowdown in China.

That country’s factory activity contracted for the first time in over two years in December, highlighting the challenges facing Beijing as it seeks to end a bruising trade war with Washington and reduce the risk of a sharper economic slowdown in 2019.

China’s Shanghai Composite started the new year with a decline of 1.1 percent.

Hong Kong’s hang Seng plunged 2.8 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei was closed for a holiday.

In European trading, London’s FTSE opened down 1.6 percent, Germany’s DAX declined 0.8 percent and France’s CAC was off 1.9 percent.

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