The Dow is poised for an eighth straight day in the red as it fell over 150 points at today’s market open amidst lingering trade tensions between the United States and China. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 were also down to start the day’s trading.
Despite concerns over trade tariff wars that are lowering consumer sentiment, the Dow still appears to be in an upward trajectory. Nonetheless, U.S.-China relations continue to weigh on the minds of investors.
Related: Trade War Talk Drags Dow Down Over 400 Points
The Focus On Tariffs
“The focus has been back on tariffs,” said Michael Hans, CIO at Clarfeld Financial Advisors. “After a pretty substantial move higher, the major averages have been pretty range bound.”
Escalating trade tensions precipitated last week when U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would impose a 25 percent tariff on over $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. The Chinese Commerce Ministry responded with a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion worth of U.S. goods.
Related: Sizing up the Current State of the U.S. Economy
The Dow opened on the down side on Tuesday by 400 points in the latest trade threat with the Trump administration proposing an additional round of tariffs on over $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. It’s an ongoing war with market implications for both sides and no winners, according to Jeremy Klein, chief market strategist at FBN Securities.
“While I suppose no one wins a trade war, the U.S. is currently ‘losing less’ in its current dispute with China if one uses the respective stock markets as a guide. While the S&P 500 largely stands in place and resides well above its correction bottom from earlier in the year, the Shanghai Composite has tumbled to a twenty-three month low,” said Klein.
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