Stocks – Wall Street Slumps Again on U.S.-China Tensions

Investing.com – Stocks fell for a second-straight day as worries about the U.S.-China trade talks, set to begin this week, proved strong enough to stall a recovery bid.

The finished down 1.56% just after hitting its low on the day. The , which had fallen as many as 338 points early in the day, finished down 1.2%, or 314 points. The fell 1.67%.

Scientific-equipment makers like Boston Scientific (NYSE:) slumped in the selloff. Chip and biotech stocks were among the hardest-hit groups. The slumped more than 3% because so much of chipmakers’ business has been tied to growth in sales growth in China. The fell about 2% because of a weak earnings report from Qiagen (NYSE:).

Banks dropped more than 2%.

The decline left the S&P and Dow more than 4% off from their summer peaks.

The Nasdaq is off nearly 6%. In six trading days in October, the S&P 500 and Dow are down 2.8%. The Nasdaq is off 2.2%.

Because of all the volatility that’s hit markets in the last 12 months, the S&P 500 is off 1.63% from its 2018 peak, with the Dow off 2.9% from its year-ago peak and the Nasdaq down 3.8%.

China was the big weight on the market, starting with last night’s announcement that the Trump Administration won’t let eight Chinese companies and a number of police departments buy technology products that can be used in surveillance.

Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. said it will impose visa bans on Chinese communist party officials linked to abuse in China’s Xinjiang province, where some million ethnic Uighurs have been put in detention camps.

The China news offset a positive reaction to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s announcement the central bank will be buying securities to provide enough liquidity in the banking system.

Walmart (NYSE:) was the sole Dow stock that showed a gain for the day. Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Apple (NASDAQ:) were both down about 1%. Chemical maker Dow Inc (NYSE:) was off nearly 3%. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:), JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:) and IBM (NYSE:) were off more than 2%.

Boeing (NYSE:) was briefly ahead on the day, but ended down 0.65%. While it announced an order for a single 737 Max jet liner, there’s no clarity on when the plane will fly again. At the same time, deliveries were halved because of the grounding of the plane. In addition, Boeing reported cancellations for 22 of its 787 Dreamliners.

Interest rates moved up during Powell’s speech, but fell back at the close. The yield finished at 1.534%, down from Monday’s 1.553%.

Oil prices moved lower. and oil futures closed at levels last seen in mid-August. rose slightly.

CBOE Global Markets (NYSE:), communications equipment maker Motorola Solutions (NYSE:) gold producer Newmont Goldcorp (NYSE:) and defense contractor L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:) were among the leading S&P 500 performers.

Scientific instrument makers Waters (NYSE:), PerkinElmer Inc (NYSE:), Boston Scientific (NYSE:) and Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:) were among the weakest S&P 500 performers.

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