Dow Drops Over 600 Points As US-China Trade Tensions Escalate

By Staff Reporter
Posted on 05/13/19 | News Source: FOX Business

U.S. stocks Opens a New Window.tumbled by triple digits Monday as trade tensions rise between the U.S. and China sending the averages to lows not seen since March. All three of the major averages were off nearly 3 percent with the selling accelerating mid-morning.

China slapped $60 billion on U.S. imports set to begin on June 1 early Monday morning. This as President Trump continued to razz the ChineseOpens a New Window. in a series of weekend and morning Tweets.

The latest had Trump threatening that the lack of a deal may mean it will become "too expensive to buy in China" among other things.

All of the large S&P 500 sectors fell led by technology and consumer discretionary names, while utilities saw modest gains. Within the Dow, Verizon and General Electric held steady amid heavy selling.

On Friday, Chinese Vice Premier LiuOpens a New Window. said trade talks between China and the U.SOpens a New Window., which lasted for just two hours, “went fairly well” and that “talks would continue.” This as the U.S. increased tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese exports to 25% from 10% that same day.

After trade talks broke up later in the day, U.S. officials said they were preparing to expand those tariffs to cover another $300 billion of goods, covering most imports from China.

The back-and-forth between the two nation's is wreaking havoc in global equity markets, with some investors speculating that a deal may not happen at all.

"The U.S. sharply hiking tariffs on Chinese imports and China threatening to retaliate has thrown into doubt the possibility of the two sides reaching a deal after almost a year of talks," Jasper Lawler of LCG said in commentary as reported by the Associated Press.

Elsewhere around the globe, shares retreated in Europe and Asia.

In commodities, oil prices surged after Saudi Arabia said two of its oil tankers were sabotaged in the Gulf of Oman near the coast of the United Arab Emirates. The kingdom said the unspecified act of sabotage did not lead to any casualties or oil spills, but the attack Sunday raised concerns about the security of oil supplies. Read more at FOX Business