Investing.com - Wall Street was slightly lower on Wednesday as trade tensions between the U.S. and China escalated.
The S&P 500 fell 2 points, or 0.08%, to 2,855.90 as of 9:37 AM ET (13:37 GMT), while the Dow decreased 21 points, or 0.09%, to 25,607.01 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 7 points, or 0.10%, to 7,875.92.
China announced on Wednesday it was retaliating dollar-for-dollar against the U.S. trade tariffs, while the U.S. said on Tuesday that it will impose a 25% tariff on $16 billion of Chinese goods on Aug. 23, as the trade war between the two largest economies in the world escalates. It’s the second set of tariffs against China in two months.
CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) was among the top gainers after the morning bell, rising 5.19% after its earnings beat estimates, while Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) inched up 0.16% and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) increased 0.18%.
Elsewhere, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 2.14%. The company soared 11% on Tuesday after Chief Executive Elon Musk said he was considering taking the luxury car maker private. Snap (NYSE:SNAP) slumped 6.38% after the social media app reported a steep drop in daily active users, while Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) inched down 0.40% after its earnings came in lower than expected.
In Europe, stocks were mixed. Germany’s DAX fell 22 points, or 0.18%, while in France the CAC 40 decreased 18 points, or 0.34%, and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 49 points, or 0.64%. Meanwhile, the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 16 points, or 0.46%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched down 63 points, or 0.65%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.01% to $1,218.40 a troy ounce, while crude oil futures decreased 1.49% to $68.14 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.06% to 95.06.