US markets end lower amid signs of escalating trade tensions between US, China

24 May 2019 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower with cut of over one percent on Thursday amid signs that trade tensions between the US and China are escalating. Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said the Trump administration must show sincerity and correct their wrong actions if the US wants trade talks to continue. Gao said that negotiations can only continue on the basis of equality and mutual respect, noting that China is closely monitoring developments and preparing a necessary response. The US and China trade talks collapsed earlier this month as President Donald Trump followed through on a threat to raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25% from 10%. The Trump administration also blocked US companies from doing business with Chinese telecom giant Huawei but recently gave the company a 90-day reprieve. With both sides seemingly unwilling to back down, traders are becoming increasingly wary of the impact of the trade dispute on the global economy.

On the economic front, after reporting an unexpected jump in new home sales in the US in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales pulled back by much more than anticipated in the month of April. The Commerce Department said new home sales plunged by 6.9% to an annual rate of 673,000 in April after spiking by 8.1% to an upwardly revised rate of 723,000 in March. Street had expected new home sales to drop by about 2.5% to a rate of 675,000 from the 692,000 originally reported for the previous month. Meanwhile, first-time claims for US unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged lower in the week ended May 18, according to a report released by the Labor Department. The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 211,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 212,000. The modest decrease came as a surprise to market participants, who had expected initial jobless claims to inch up to 215,000. The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also fell to 220,250, a decrease of 4,750 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 225,000. 

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 286.14 points or 1.11 percent to 25490.47, Nasdaq dropped 122.56 points or 1.58 percent to 7628.28 and S&P 500 was down by 34.03 points or 1.19 percent to 2822.24.

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