Dow drops 300 points on dimming hopes around US-China trade talks

Stocks fell sharply on Tuesday as investor optimism around the upcoming U.S.-China trade talks faded. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 305 points lower, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 slid 1.3% along with the Nasdaq Composite. Bank shares fell broadly. Citigroup, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase slid more than 2% each as rates declined. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield traded at 1.52%. The S&P 500 industrials sectors pulled back more than 1%, led by declines in Caterpillar and Deere. Boeing also contributed to the losses, sliding more than 1.5%.

Big tech shares such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Alphabet declined as well. Semiconductor stocks dropped sharply as the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) traded 2.2% lower. Nvidia, On Semiconductor and KLA Corp. were among the biggest decliners in the SMH.

However, there was some confusion about China’s intentions around trade. The Chinese state-owned Global Times said China is “sincerely” looking forward to reaching a trade deal with the U.S. The major averages seemed to take the report as a positive, edging slightly off their lows. The U.S. also expanded its trade blacklist to include some of China’s top artificial intelligence firms on Monday, punishing Beijing for its treatment of predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities. China’s foreign ministry said to “stay tuned” for retaliation following the blacklist expansion.

Dow drops 300 points on dimming hopes around US-China trade talks, CNBC, Oct 08