Tariff fears again drive stocks lower
Dow starts 352 higher, flips to a loss of 566 before closing down 245
Fear that the Trump administration will announce tariffs on all remaining imports from China helped knock U.S. stocks from a strong early gain to another sharp loss Monday.
Technology companies sank again after Bloomberg News reported that the U.S. is planning new tariffs if the two sides don’t make progress in trade talks next month.
Technology and internet companies, industrials and retailers took steep losses as Wall Street’s recent bout of volatility continued. The S&P 500 index has dropped 9.4 percent in October and is on track for its worst monthly loss since February 2009. That was right before the market hit its lowest point during the 2008-09 financial crisis.
Bloomberg News reported that the Trump administration will put tariffs on the rest of the country’s imports from China if Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping don’t make substantial progress in easing the trade dispute next month.
The S&P 500 index fell 17.44 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,641.25.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained as much as 352 points Monday morning but closed down 245.39 points, or 1 percent, to 24,442.92. It fell as much as 566 during the day.
The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, lost 116.92 points, or 1.6 percent, to 7,050.29. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 6.51 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,447.31.
Stocks have plunged since early October, breaking a long period of relative calm over the summer, and trading has been especially volatile the last few days.
Among industrials, Boeing
sank 6.6 percent to $335.59. Some early gains for tech and internet stocks also faded. Microsoft shed 2.9 percent to $103.85. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, lost 4.5 percent to $1,034.73.
Amazon.com dropped another 6.3 percent to $1,538.88. The online retailer tumbled Friday after it reported weak sales and gave a lower-than-expected revenue estimate for the quarter that includes the holiday shopping season. Its stock traded above $2,000 a share in early September and has fallen 24.5 percent since then.
The S&P 500, the main benchmark for the U.S. stock market, has fallen 9.9 percent from its latest record high on Sept. 20. The Nasdaq has plunged 13 percent from its record high reached Aug. 29.
For most of this year investors have remained hopeful that the U.S. and China would work out their disagreements on trade policy and that many of the tariffs would be reduced or eliminated. But in recent weeks they’ve lost some of their confidence, and that’s contributed to the market’s tumble
The effects of higher tariffs could be especially severe for technology companies, which make many of their products in China, and for industrial companies, which are already paying higher prices for metals. The U.S. and China are the world’s largest economies and their trade relationship is the world’s largest, so the higher taxes on imports could also slow global economic growth and increase inflation.
The prospect of reduced barriers to trade helped automakers on Monday. Car companies rose after Bloomberg News reported that regulators in China intend to propose cutting the tax on imported cars to 5 percent from 10 percent. The trade fight between the U.S. and China has hurt sales, and that slowdown is one of several factors that have damaged car company stocks this year.
Ford climbed 3.3 percent to $9.28 and auto parts retailer Borgwarner advanced 4 percent to $39.56. After Cooper Tire & Rubber reported a bigger thirdquarter profit than analysts expected, its stock surged 21.4 percent to $30.89.
Germany’s DAX rose 1.2 percent as Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW made big gains. Italy’s FTSE MIB index rose 1.9 percent after Standard & Poor’s did not downgrade the company’s credit rating. Italy’s new government plans to ramp up spending and European Union leaders have demanded it change its plans.
The CAC 40 in France added 0.4 percent and the British FTSE 100 rose 1.3 percent.
Mexico’s stock index shed 4.2 percent after President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he will respect the result of a referendum that rejected a partly-built new airport for Mexico City. He said 70 percent of voters opposed the $13 billion project.
Brazil’s Bovespa rose in morning trading after far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro was elected president, but it later turned lower and lost 2.2 percent. Stocks climbed earlier this month after Bolsonaro led the previous round of voting, as investors preferred him to leftist parties.