Shares on Wall Street were mixed at the open and heading lower as European stocks also suffered as traders again took risk off the table.
At the time of writing, the benchmark Dow was down tow at 16,251 , while the tech heavy Nasdaq added eight points to 4,764 and the S&P500 was flat at 1,941.
Stocks appeared to struggle to find direction and trading soon after the open was choppy.
Triggering the sell-off was core machinery orders in Japan, which declined for a second straight month.
This was followed by Chinese producer prices, which fell by a bigger-than-expected 5.9%.
Connor Campbell at spread betting firm Spreadex, said: “It appears that the investors’ nascent confidence took a bit of a knock, as China displayed further signs of its slowdown.”
Earlier, David Madden, at IG, had noted: "Traders in the West are still looking to the East for inspiration, and until the Far East calms down in terms of volatility, stocks markets in this part of the world will remain sceptical."
In London, FTSE100 was down 85 points at 6,144.
In the US, positive jobs data appeared to fail to make a dent on negative sentiment as the number of Americans getting laid off remained near the lowest level in decades.
Initial jobless claims fell by 6,000 to 275,000 in the weeks from August 30 to September 5, according to official stats.
On the corporate front, the big flyer was trucking group Con-way (NYSE:CNW), which motored over 33% higher to US$47.35 as it emerged it was to be acquired by XPO Logistics for US$3bn.
The deal will make XPO one of the largest freight transporters and logistics providers in the USA.
Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) shares added over 5% to US$173.88 after the cyber security company provided current-quarter revenue guidance above market expectations while reporting a stronger revenue in the last quarter, buoyed by increased government and corporate spending on cyber protection.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares added 1.04% to US$111.28 after suffering falls yesterday, despite its hotly anticipated product launch event.
Today, the chatter and reaction continued, which appeared to be rather mixed.
New versions of the iPhone, its Apple TV, which now works with Siri, and iPad Pro, an office-worthy tablet, met mixed reactions.
The tech giant reckons the iPad Pro has the capability to work instead of a laptop.
On the losing front, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NYSE:KKD) sank 11.11% in morning trade after the doughnuts chain cut its outlook for the current year while reporting weaker-than-expected results for the latest quarter.