TARIFFS SEND STOCKS TUMBLING

Chaotic week for the market

NEW YORK — Stocks ended the week the way they began it: tumbling as investors worry that tariffs and harsh words between the U.S. and China will touch off a trade war that derails the global economy. That came with the U.S. considering duties on an additional $100 billion in goods imported from China.

The stock market changed direction again and again this week as investors tried to get a sense of whether the trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies will escalate. Technology companies, banks, industrial and health care stocks sank. The market didn’t get any help from a March jobs report that was weaker than expected.

With administration officials sounding conciliatory one day and hostile the next and the president frequently quick to fire off another tweet, investors simply don’t know what the U.S. wants to achieve in its talks with China, said Katie Nixon, chief investment officer for Northern Trust Wealth Management.

“The process itself seems to be quite chaotic,” she said. “We’re not quite sure what the long-term strategy is.”

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 572.46 points, or 2.3 percent, to 23,932.76. It fell as much as 767 points.

The S&P 500, which many index funds track, lost 58.37 points, or 2.2 percent, to 2,604.47.

The Nasdaq composite slid 161.44 points, or 2.3 percent, to 6,915.11. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks dipped 29.63 points, or 1.9 percent, to 1,513.30.