China surprised everyone for the second day running, slashing the value of its currency against the dollar.

There are lots of different explanations. It could be seen as a move to boost falling exports, to prepare for a US interest rate rise or just to give the currency more flexibility to move in the future as growth slows.

But the UK, EU and global stock markets do not like it. Imports to China will get a bit more expensive and less attractive to consumers.

Here's the FTSE down over 1% today so far:

The French CAC index is falling even further, dropping more than 2%:

While the German stock market is having a similar freakout today, down 2.08% at the time of writing:

Finally, the Hang Seng Index in Singapore closed down 2.38% on the news:

Some analysts think China will keep cutting, which will mean stocks may keep falling.