Dow plunges 760 points in worst day of 2019 as trade war intensifies

Fred Imbert
CNBC

Stocks fell sharply Monday as a trade war between the world’s largest economies intensified with China retaliating against President Donald Trump’s latest move.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 767.27 points, or 2.9%, to close at 25,717.74 and dropped as much as 961.63 points at one point. The S&P 500 dropped nearly 3% to 2,844.74. The Nasdaq Composite lagged, falling 3.5% to 7,726.04. it was the worst percentage drop for all three indexes this year. The S&P 500 is now more than 6% below its record hit only last month.

The Nasdaq fell for a sixth straight session, its longest losing streak since late 2016. The S&P 500 also posted a six-day losing streak. The Dow declined for a fifth straight day. The move continues a sell-off that began last week when President Donald Trump ordered new tariffs on the rest of Chinese goods and the Federal Reserve failed to signal it would be as aggressive as the market hoped in backstopping the economic slowdown.

Apple led the decline in stocks that have the most to lose from the new round of tariffs, losing 5.2%. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) closed 2.2% lower as the new tariffs will hit items apparel, electronics and toys. Nike dropped 2.7%. Macy’s and Best Buy pulled back 3.1% and 3.5%, respectively.

FedEx dropped 4%. Caterpillar and Boeing dropped 2.3% and 2.5%, respectively. Semiconductor stocks such as Micron Technology, Skyworks Solutions and Advanced Micro Devices fell at least 4.4%.

“Now we have a trade situation that is going off the rails as the side effects multiply due to the ramping up of the use of tariffs and we are only further apart from any resolution with the Chinese,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. “The policy of using tariffs as a tool to address our legitimate beefs with the Chinese has failed miserably.”

China, which has historically controlled its currency, the yuan, allowed it to fall to its lowest level on Monday against the dollar in more than a decade. The onshore yuan broke above 7 per U.S. dollar and traded around 7.05.

Trump later accused China of manipulating its currency, saying in a tweet: “This is a major violation which will greatly weaken China over time.”

China dropped the price of their currency to an almost a historic low. It’s called “currency manipulation.” Are you listening Federal Reserve? This is a major violation which will greatly weaken China over time!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2019

China “appears to have decided that, given the increasingly dim prospects of a trade deal with the US, the boost to China’s export sector from currency depreciation is worth attracting the ire of the Trump,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note. “The fact that they have now stopped defending 7.00 against the dollar suggests that they have all but abandoned hopes for a trade deal with the US.”

Along with the currency move, China retaliated by suspending the purchases of U.S. agricultural products and threatened to slap tariffs on the farm goods purchased after Aug. 3, according to state media and other reports.

Trump announced last week the U.S. would impose a 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports. The tariff will take effect on Sept. 1. Trump’s announcement came after Chinese and U.S. officials discussed trade earlier last week as the two countries tried to restart talks.

That tariff would target retail, along with other consumer goods from companies like Apple. The tech giant told U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in a June letter that tariffs on this tranche of goods would hit “all of Apple’s major products,” hindering the company’s contributing to the economy.

The news pushed the S&P 500 to its worst weekly performance of the year, with the S&P 500 dropping 3.1%.

Investors rushed to traditional safe havens like Treasurys and gold on Monday amid the uncertainty. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.74% and reached its lowest level since November 2016. Gold futures for December delivery gained 1.3% to settle at $1,476.50 per ounce.

The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered to be the best fear gauge in the market, jumped 36% to above 23.

—CNBC’s Eustance Huang and Silvia Amaro contributed to this report.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/05/us-futures-amid-trade-turmoil-between-beijing-and-washington.html