Stocks are getting smoked amid trade war worries
Markets Insider
- Stocks sank in late-Friday trading amid ongoing concerns about US trade policy.
- The S&P 500 approached the lows it hit in February when it fell into a correction.
- Financial stocks were the worst performers.
- Follow the Dow Jones industrial average in real time.
Stocks fell to fresh session lows in the final hour of trading on Friday, amid concerns about US trade policy and retaliation from China.
At 3:02 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 250 points, or 1.02%, the S&P 500 was down 38 points, or 1.42%, while the Nasdaq was down 115 points, or 1.76%.
On Thursday, China announced that it planned to impose reciprocal tariffs on 128 US products with an import value of about $3 billion last year. President Donald Trump had earlier announced new tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, with the aim of reducing the $375 billion trade deficit the US has with the country.
The Financials sector was the biggest loser among the 11 on the S&P 500. On the Dow, Boeing and Nike were the only stocks in positive territory.
The drop on Friday pushed the S&P 500 9% below its peak in late-January, just short of the 10% threshold at which the index enters a correction.
Meanwhile, Dropbox continued to soar in its trading debut. Shares of the cloud-computing company gained by as much as 44% in trading amid the broader market's weakness.
Treasurys gained, with the 10-year yield up by less than one basis point to 2.823%.