US markets end lower amid renewed trade concerns

12 Jul 2018 Evaluate

Snapping a four-session winning streak, the US markets ended lower on Wednesday, with losses of over half a percent, after the Trump administration announced new tariffs on Chinese goods, further escalating tensions between the two largest economies in the world, which some investors fear could morph into a full-on trade war. The White House said it would assess 10% tariffs on a further $200 billion in Chinese goods. The move is seen as deepening the rift with Beijing and sending a message to other trading partners that the US is willing to escalate a trade fight. The US last week hit Beijing with levies on $34 billion in goods, and Beijing retaliated with tariffs of the same amount. A final decision on the products to be hit with the new tariffs is expected after a consultation period in late August. China’s Ministry of Commerce said that the new levies are ‘totally unacceptable’ and that the behavior is hurting not just China but the whole world.

On the economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing producer prices increased by slightly more than expected in the month of June. The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand rose by 0.3 percent in June after climbing by 0.5 percent in May. Street had expected prices to edge up by 0.2 percent.  Excluding food and energy prices, core producer prices also climbed by 0.3 percent in June, matching the increase seen in May. Core prices had been expected to rise by 0.2 percent. Compared to the same month a year ago, producer prices were up by 3.4 percent in June, representing the largest 12-month increase since a 3.7 percent jump in November of 2011.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 219.21 points or 0.88 percent to 24700.45, the S&P 500 dropped 19.82 points or 0.71 percent to 2774.02 and the Nasdaq was down by 42.59 points or 0.55 percent to 7716.61.

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