US stocks tumble on US-China trade jitters

US stocks tumbled again Thursday, knocking 600 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average and putting the benchmark S&P 500 on track for its worst week since March.

The broad market decline came as the arrest of a senior Chinese technology executive overshadowed some positive comments on trade from Beijing and threatened to worsen trade tensions between the US and China.

The lingering trade dispute has deepened investors' worries that the prospects for global economic and corporate earnings growth could be dimming.

Traders continued to shovel money into bonds, a signal that they see weakness in the economy ahead. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.85 percent from 2.92 percent on Tuesday, a large move.

US stock and bond trading were closed Wednesday because of a national day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush.

"The market seems right now to be focused on increased risks for a 2020 recession," said Patrick Schaffer, Global Investment Specialist, J.P. Morgan Private Bank. "It's a very hard market to buy when you see really strong signals that we are indeed late (in the economic) cycle."

Oil prices fell sharply as traders appeared to doubt that an expected production cut by OPEC will be enough to boost the price of crude.

Technology companies, banks and health care stocks took some of the heaviest losses in the latest wave of selling. Oracle slid 4.3 percent to $46.64. Citigroup fell 4.8 percent to $59.25. Centene sank 7.3 percent to $131.80.

The S&P 500 index slid 61 points, or 2.3 percent, to 2,638 as of 11:47 a.m. Eastern Time. The Dow dropped 626 points, or 2.5 percent, to 24,400. The average briefly slumped as much as 784 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 119 points, or 1.7 percent, to 7,039.

The Russell 2000 index of small-company stocks gave up 35 points, or 2.4 percent, to 1,445.

The latest losses put the S&P 500 and the Dow back into the red for the year. The Nasdaq was still slightly higher for 2018.

Major indexes overseas also fell sharply. The DAX in Germany dropped 3.9 percent, while France's CAC 40 lost 3.7 percent. The FTSE 100 in Britain declined 3.6 percent.

Canadian authorities arrested the chief financial officer of China's Huawei Technologies on Wednesday for possible extradition to the US.

Meng is a prominent member of Chinese society as deputy chairman of the board and the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei. China has demanded Meng's immediate release.

The arrest came days after President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the two nation's escalating trade dispute.

Markets rallied on Monday on news that Trump and Xi had agreed at the summit over the weekend to a temporary, 90-day stand-down in the two nations' escalating trade dispute. That optimism quickly faded as skepticism grew that Beijing will yield to US demands anytime soon, leading to a steep sell-off in global markets on Tuesday.

PressTV-Dollar pressured by falling US yields; recession fears

The dollar remained under pressure Wednesday as an inversion in part of the Treasury yield curve caused concern about a possible US meltdown.

"Trade tensions aren't going away," Schaffer said.

The renewed jitters over the implications that Meng's arrest could have on US-China trade negotiations weighed on big exporters Thursday. Boeing slumped 6.3 percent to $320.96.

The news also resulted in another down day for markets in Asia.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 2.5 percent and Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 1.9 percent. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.2 percent, while South Korea's Kospi sank 1.6 percent. Shares also fell in Taiwan and all other regional markets.

OPEC countries gathered in Vienna Thursday to find a way to support the falling price of oil. Analysts predicted the cartel and some key allies, like Russia, would agree to cut production by at least 1 million barrels per day. OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia indicated it was in favor of such a cut.

The expectation did not keep the price of oil from falling, however, as investors focused on the potential economic disruption from any escalation in the US-China trade dispute.

Benchmark US crude sank 4.5 percent to $50.53 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slid 4.4 percent to $58.88 per barrel.

The dollar weakened to 112.47 yen from 113.19 yen late Wednesday. The euro rose to $1.1362 from $1.1342.

(Source: AP)

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk