Bay Area businesses impacted by U.S stock market plunge

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- It was another bad day for stocks as the Dow Jones Industrial average lost more than 450 points due to fears about a slowdown in China's economy.

Some Bay Area companies like Google, Tesla and Netfix took big hits after the stock market took a nose dive on Tuesday.

Asian countries are the Port of Oakland's major trading partners at 76 percent. China is at the top of that list and what happens there will have an impact at the port. "If they are slowing down we are going to slow down too," truck driver Mamdoh Ibrahim said.

Zach Richard is a truck driver as well and knows whatever happens in China will have an impact on his livelihood. "We can't get it in here, that's no work for the drivers that are going into the port and bottom line is the end customers won't be getting their products on time," he said.

"If I'm not making money, I'm not paying my mortgage, I'm not making car payments, I can't afford my health insurance, so that's big it directly affects us," Ibrahim said.

The same applies to commodities sold to China such as California's agricultural products.

Weak reports in China are just one piece driving down stocks. "I think we're going to have a difficult earning season. We're going to have news from the fed, there's a lot of things that could just continue to have volatility be very high," Winans International spokesperson Ken Winan said.

Some tech companies have seen their stock tumble, which then affects employees and their purchases. "If you have those shares rapidly correct, it gives you a moment of pause before you are going to rush out and buy a multi-million dollar house in San Francisco," Winan said.

Some people ABC7 News spoke with are in caution mode. "That definitely discourages me from purchasing a car or really anything big," Ben Wright said.

Economists predict if this correction gets any worse, investors will not see a quick rebound.