Associated Press
- Rising trade tensions between the US and China pushed stocks to their worst week of 2019 as major indexes slid by more than 1.3% at their lowest levels.
- The benchmark S&P 500 slipped 3.1% for the five-day period.
- On Friday, China announced its intentions to retaliate against the US should it impose a new 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese products.
- Employment data for July released on Friday showed that the US economy added 164,000 nonfarm payrolls during the month.
- The losses mark a continuation of weakness on Thursday, when comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell raised concerns about further central-bank easing.
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Stocks suffered through their worst week of 2019 as the market grappled with reignited fears about the trade war between the US and China.
Here’s a look at the major indexes as of the market close:
- The S&P 500 fell 0.73%, to 2,932.04 — down as much as 1.3%.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.37%, to 26,485.01 — down as much as 1.3%.
- The Nasdaq Composite slid 1.32% to 8,004.07 — down as much as 1.9%.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said that starting September 1, the US would impose an additional 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese exports. China on Friday condemned the move, saying it would “have to take the necessary counter-measures” against the US. In June, China raised tariffs on $60 billion worth of US products to 25% from 10% in response to Trump’s escalations.
The new trade spat came days after delegations from the two countries met in Shanghai for another round of trade negotiations. Trump has said that significant progress would need to be made during the talks or there could be “no deal at all.” He also accused China of reneging on a commitment to purchase more agricultural products from the US.
July employment data was also released on Friday. The US economy added 164,000 jobs last month, extending the labor market’s growth streak to 106 months.
Friday’s losses mark a continuation of weakness on Thursday, when the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time since 2008 and comments made by Chair Jerome Powell raised concerns about further central-bank easing.
Within the S&P 500, these were the largest gainers:
And the largest decliners:
Square’s stock plummeted after the digital-payments company cut its third-quarter sales outlook and announced it sold Caviar, its food-delivery subsidiary, to DoorDash for $410 million. The company beat Wall Street estimates for both earnings per share and revenue for the second quarter.
Shares of Pinterest jumped after the company reported second-quarter earnings that surpassed analyst estimates. The social network said it had 300 million monthly users and generated $261 million in revenue in Q2, up 62% from the same period last year.