It all began Tuesday on the other side of the world when Asian shares fell due to gloomy manufacturing data from China and weak investment figures in Japan.

An official index of Chinese manufacturing fell to a three-year low in August, another sigh of slower-than-expected growth in the world’s second largest economy.

Japan’s Nikkei index fell almost 4% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 2.2% and China’s Shanghai Composite lost just over 1%.

The selloff continued in Toronto and New York.

The TSX was off 377 points to 12,482, the Dow Jones plunged even more, 470 points to 16,058, the Nasdaq  lost 140 to 4,636.

All three indexes lost nearly 3%.

After rallying 25% recently, oil prices plunged 8% Tuesday or $3.79 to $45.41US a barrel.

Two oil and gas companies announced they’re cutting a total of 900 jobs due to falling oil prices.

Penn West Petroleum’s chopping its workforce by 35% while ConocoPhillips Canada plans to layoff 15%.

Gold rose $7.30 to $1,139.80 an ounce.

The Canadian dollar fell 0.38 cents to 75.63 U.S.