por admin » Jue May 03, 2018 9:47 am
Dow drops more than 350 points amid US-China trade worries
Fred Imbert | Sam Meredith
Published 5 Hours Ago Updated 2 Mins Ago
CNBC.com
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, (NYSE) in New York, U.S., January 8, 2018.
Stocks traded lower on Thursday as investors looked past solid quarterly results while trade and geopolitical worries mounted.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 350 points, with Caterpillar as the worst-performing stock. The 30-stock index also dropped below its 200-day moving average for the first time since April 2. The S&P 500 declined 1.4 percent, pushing below its 200-day moving average, with health care and financials lagging. The Nasdaq composite pulled back 1.3 percent.
Tesla reported better-than-forecast quarterly results Wednesday after the close. However, the stock fell after CEO Elon Musk dismissed questions from analysts regarding gross margins and Model 3 production.
Meanwhile, Church & Dwight, Blue Apron and Express Scripts also posted results that beat the Street.
Caution tape hangs near the steps of Federal Hall across from the New York Stock Exchange in New York.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Caution tape hangs near the steps of Federal Hall across from the New York Stock Exchange in New York.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is leading a group of Trump administration officials to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and discuss trade between the two nations.
Shortly before the talks were set to take place in Beijing, the mood between the world's two largest economies worsened amid reports the U.S. administration is considering taking executive action to restrict some Chinese firms' ability to sell telecoms equipment.
On Wednesday night, President Donald Trump said in a tweet the group of administration officials "is in China trying to negotiate a level playing field on trade! I look forward to being with President Xi in the not too distant future."
"Trump's 'level playing field' implies a harder line and general sentiment around the talks is going to be volatile," said Tom Essaye, founder of The Sevens Report. "Chances of a grand bargain are virtually nil but the market does want a de-escalation of trade tensions."
Meanwhile, Iran Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the country will not renegotiate the nuclear deal it struck with the U.S. in 2015. Zarif said in a YouTube video: "Iran will not renegotiate what was agreed years ago and has been implemented ... also we will reject any ratification of it."
Crude futures briefly spiked before trading 0.8 percent lower at $67.39 per barrel. Gold futures jumped 0.7 percent to $1,314.10 per ounce. The precious metal is often seen as a safe-haven trade.
Wall Street also paid attention to Washington amid more news regarding Trump's legal troubles. In an interview with Fox News, Rudy Giuliani, one of the lawyers representing the president in the special counsel's probe, said Trump repaid his personal lawyer Michael Cohen for a hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
His statements appear to contradict the version of events told by both Trump and Cohen about the payment.
"We're facing a dual headwind of trade wars and noise" around the Mueller investigation, said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR. He noted the market had recently been ignoring news about Trump's legal troubles as corporate earnings results flooded the news cycle.