Trade Tensions Spook Stocks

MONDAY – A sharp sell-off will start the week on Wall Street after President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. will hike tariffs on goods imported from China, casting doubt on recent optimism that the world’s two largest economies were close to a resolution to their trade battle.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 457 points as of 8:32 a.m. ET which implied an opening decline of about 440 points. S&P 500 futures lost 1.5% and Nasdaq-100 Index futures dropped 1.9%.

China’s stock markets, meanwhile, fell sharply. The Shanghai Composite dropped 5.6% while the Shenzhen A Shares index plunged more than 7%.

Trump said in a tweet Sunday afternoon that the current 10% levies on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods will rise to 25% on Friday. He also threatened to impose 25% tariffs on an additional $325 billion of Chinese goods “shortly.”

The S&P 500, up 17.5% in 2019 alone, notched a record close on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which has soared more than 20% this year, clinched a record close on Friday. The S&P 500 is set to drop 1.5% on Monday, which would be its biggest one-day decline since March 22, when it dropped 1.9%.

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