Stocks are getting slammed as Trump administration is reportedly thinking about curbing Chinese investment in some American firms
Stocks fell in early trading Monday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index shedding more than 1.5%, amid reports of protectionist policy pushes by the Trump administration that are ramping up trade tensions on multiple fronts.
Here is the scoreboard as of 11:15 a.m. ET:
Dow Jones industrial average: 24,290.31 −290.58 (-1.18%)
S&P 500: 2,723.53 −31.35 (-1.14%)
Nasdaq: 7,540.50 −152.31 (-1.98%)
New rules that would curb investment in American technology firms are reportedly in the works within the Treasury Department. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday the initiatives would block companies with more than 25% Chinese ownership from buying "industrially significant" technology companies. But Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Monday on Twitter the rules could be applied to "all countries that are trying to steal our technology."
Chinese tech stocks sold off on the news, with iQiyi sliding as much as 9% and Tencent falling nearly 5%.
Among the biggest Nasdaq decliners was Netflix, which dropped more than 5% to below the key $400 level. Shares of General Electric, which will leave the Dow Jones industrial average on Tuesday, fell about 1.5% after the company said it would sell its distributed power business.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin's Harley-Davidson tumbled nearly 5% after saying it will move some production out of the US amid retaliatory tariffs the company said are bringing about a "tremendous cost increase." The move comes after the European Union pushed back on Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs with its own duties on politically-significant US products like motorcycles.
Elsewhere, oil prices fell amid anticipation for increasing supply, with Brent sliding nearly 2% to under $74 a barrel. The cartel agreed at a summit over the weekend in Vienna to ease supply cuts next month, a move analysts expect will bring about 700,000 to 1 million additional barrels per day to the market in coming months.
Treasury yields also slipped following the report, with the 10-year down 2.9 basis points to 2.873. The dollar struggled to find direction against a basket of currencies, and the euro ticked higher.