10.10.202515:33:44UTC+00US Stocks Slide as Trump Threatens New Tariffs on China

On Friday, U.S. stocks, which initially showed promise, turned negative as trading progressed. The S&P 500 dropped by 1%, the Nasdaq decreased by 1.7%, and the Dow Jones plummeted over 300 points. This downturn followed President Trump's declaration of a potential "massive increase in tariffs" on Chinese imports, a retaliation against Beijing's proposed restrictions on rare earth exports. Additionally, Trump hinted at potentially canceling his forthcoming meeting with President Xi Jinping, heightening concerns of a rekindling of the U.S.–China trade tensions. These developments came after earlier actions from China, which included imposing fresh port fees on U.S. ships and launching an antitrust investigation into Qualcomm. The technology sector bore the brunt of the decline, with communication services and industrials also suffering, whereas utilities and consumer staples sectors managed to maintain gains. Notable declines were seen in Nvidia (-1.7%), Meta (-2.6%), and Amazon (-3.1%), with AMD and Qualcomm falling significantly by 6.2% and 4.1%, respectively. Over the week, despite these challenges, the S&P 500 has gained 0.3%, the Nasdaq is up 1.1%, but the Dow Jones is projected to finish 0.9% lower.