Global unrest, tariff talk bring stocks lower

U.S. equities slumped as President Donald Trump was said to move ahead with a plan to impose new tariffs on China as soon as next week. Emerging-market assets tumbled and the dollar rallied as traders sold riskier assets amid turmoil in Argentina and Turkey.

The S&P 500 Index extended losses after the report on Trump’s trade plan, with industrial stocks among the worst performers. Apple Inc. held on to an advance as Warren Buffett said he likes the iPhone maker. Argentina failed to stem a rout in the peso as the central bank jacked up its benchmark interest rate, already the highest in the world, to 60 percent.

Treasuries edged higher with core European bonds, while Italian and Greek notes slumped. The euro fell after the EU’s chief negotiator warned the bloc must be prepared for a disorderly Brexit. Canada’s dollar weakened after second-quarter growth missed estimates.

Investors showed caution Thursday amid a slew of risks to the global outlook, not least U.S. trade and foreign policy, and amid speculation the recent runup in equity prices may have gone too far. After Trump on Wednesday accused China of undermining efforts to pressure North Korea into giving up its nuclear weapons, people familiar with the matter said the U.S. president wants to move ahead with a plan to impose tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports as soon as a publiccomment period concludes next week.

While tariffs didn’t seem to have much of an impact on corporate earnings in the second quarter, increasing trade barriers will weigh on sentiment, according to Kim Forrest, a senior portfolio manager at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

Investors are worried that “maybe we’re actually going to see this tariff activity show up in the second half of the year,” she said.