Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Wall Street slips on trade worries, Hong Kong unrest

Published 11/13/2019, 10:19 AM
Updated 11/13/2019, 10:19 AM
Wall Street slips on trade worries, Hong Kong unrest

Wall Street slips on trade worries, Hong Kong unrest

By Arjun Panchadar

(Reuters) - Wall Street edged lower on Wednesday as President Donald Trump's threat to "substantially" raise tariffs if China did not make a trade deal with the United States as well as escalating tensions in Hong Kong kept investors away from riskier assets.

Trump on Tuesday dangled the prospect of completing an initial deal with China "soon," but offered no new details on negotiations and largely repeated well-worn rhetoric about China's "cheating" on trade.

Technology stocks had lifted the benchmark S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (IXIC) to all-time highs in the run up to Trump's speech on Tuesday, but the indexes pulled back slightly after his address at the Economic Club of New York.

"Now is more the realization that 'phase one' is really not a done deal," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.

"It felt for a couple weeks that the deal was almost done and then you have these comments that sort of puts us in the same place we were."

Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were lower. The financial sector (SPSY) fell 0.65%, tracking a drop in benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields and weighing the most.

The trade-sensitive industrial sector (SPLRCI) was also among the biggest drags, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor index fell 0.87%.

Heightened tensions in Hong Kong also dulled sentiment after police warned violence related to anti-government protests had reached a deadly level and that the Asian financial hub had been pushed to the "brink of a total breakdown".

Wall Street's main indexes have touched new highs this month on the back of a strong corporate earnings season and hopes of a trade deal to end the damaging 16-month tariff war.

U.S. central bankers see a "sustained expansion" ahead for the country's economy, with the full impact of recent interest rate cuts still to be felt, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in his prepared remarks for testimony that is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET (1600 GMT).

On the economic front, data showed U.S. consumer prices rebounded more than expected in October and underlying inflation picked up.

At 10:03 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was down 16.71 points, or 0.06%, at 27,674.78, the S&P 500 (SPX) was down 4.11 points, or 0.13%, at 3,087.73 and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) was down 16.84 points, or 0.20%, at 8,469.26.

Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (N:BABA) slipped 1.2% as the Chinese e-commerce giant revealed plans to launch a Hong Kong share sale to raise up to $13.4 billion.

SmileDirectClub Inc (O:SDC) slumped 19% as the teeth alignment company posted a bigger quarterly loss and pointed toward more losses for the year.

Tech Data Corp (O:TECD) gained 4% after announcing private equity Apollo Global Management (N:APO) would buy the U.S. company in a deal valued at $5.4 billion.

China's Luckin Coffee Inc (O:LK) rose 13.2% as the Starbucks Corp (O:SBUX) rival reported a smaller-than-expected loss and forecast fourth-quarter revenue above estimates.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.67-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.89-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded eight new 52-week highs and one new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 34 new highs and 55 new lows.

Latest comments

Market up = trade hopes. Market down = trade worries. Market fluctuate = trade confusion. Market flat = trade uncertainty. Smh. :/
The trade deal is a nothing burger and only will effect a measly 5% gdp which amounts to nothing for the majority of us
wow , please share your ideas to fix this issue.
Thanks to money
funny topic, changing in every second.
Slip what lol
Not really slipped lol
he's a win-lose person. not good for diplomacy.
The Americans would do better to learn from the HongKongers and climb the barricades on health care costs. Trumpet simply needs to implement a transfer from making pay the financially strapped citizens over to the financially leveraged corporations. --- But it needs Americans climbing the barricades Hong Kong style
He is only making the market worse with every threat he tweets. I'm not trying to be how I was with my stocks when it was late July where the market was doing good then he said something which killed the stocks and it took like all the way to Mid August for my stocks to get back to make profits. Fly over there and sign the deal then if it is that serious. It is more then likely him is why we have not signed anything yet.
lack of clarity? that's the used car salesman's pitch.. where are all the trumpanzees saying this deal won't through is fake news? you heard or not heard rather from the horse himself
You sound like a very nice person.
talk about lack of clarity..omg
this deal is a nothing burger that effects only 5% of trade.
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.