Trade war worries weigh on stocks
A slide in technology companies helped pull down U.S. stocks Monday, snapping a five-day winning streak for the market.
The selloff came amid speculation that the Trump administration was preparing to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The two governments had already levied 25% tariffs on $50 billion of each other’s exports, and investors worried about a significant escalation in the trade dispute.
Investors used the prospect of a deeper U.S.China trade conflict to take some profits, especially in technology stocks, the market’s biggest gainers this year. Department stores and other consumer-focused companies also accounted for a big slice of the losses. Traditionally safeplay sectors, such as real estate and utilities, rose. Oil prices fell.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 16.18 points, or 0.6%, to 2,888.80. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 92.55 points, or 0.4%, to 26,062.12. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slid 114.25 points, or 1.4%, to 7,895.79. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 18.17 points, or 1.1%, to 1,703.55. Most stocks closed lower on the New York Stock Exchange.
Technology companies led the market’s slide. Apple fell 2.7% to $217.88. Netflix slumped 3.9% to $350.35. Twitter slid 4.2% to $28.86 after an analyst cut the price target on the stock.
Amazon.com fell 3.2% to $1,908.03 after the Wall Street Journal reported that the online retail giant is investigating suspected bribes of its employees and data leaks by them.
Several big department store chains declined. Macy’s slid 3.1% to $35.16. Kohl’s fell 2% to $79.26. Gap retreated 2.6% to $27.05.
Teva Pharmaceutical climbed 2.5% to $23.43 after the Food and Drug Administration approved the drugmaker’s preventive migraine treatment.
Express Scripts jumped 3.7% to $95.23 after federal regulators cleared the way for Cigna to buy it. Cigna rose 1.4% to $197.84.
Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10year Treasury held at 2.99%.
The dollar fell to 111.18 yen from 112.03 yen. The euro strengthened to $1.1686 from $1.1632.
Oil prices ended down. Benchmark U.S. crude slipped 0.1% to $68.91 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slipped 0.1% to $78.05 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline fell 0.3% to $1.98 a gallon. Heating oil fell 0.1% to $2.21 a gallon. Natural gas jumped 1.7% to $2.81 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Gold rose 0.4% to $1,205.80 an ounce. Silver rose 0.6% to $14.22 an ounce. Copper rose 0.2% to $2.65 a pound.