Stocks Tumble Again on Report U.S. Plans More Tariffs

Stocks sank again Monday on fears that the Trump administration will escalate its trade dispute with China by imposing tariffs on remaining imports from China to the U.S.

The declines came during another dizzying day of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung between a gain of 352 points and a loss of 566 before closing down 245.39 points, or 1 percent, to 24,442.92.

Bloomberg News reported in the afternoon that the Trump administration will put tariffs on the rest of the country’s imports from China if Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping don’t make substantial progress in easing the trade dispute next month.

Technology and internet companies, industrials and retailers took steep losses after the Bloomberg report as Wall Street’s recent bout of volatility continued. The S&P 500 index has dropped 9.4 percent in October and is on track for its worst monthly loss since February 2009. That was right before the market hit its lowest point during the 2008-09 financial crisis.

The S&P 500 index fell 17.44 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,641.25.

The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, lost 116.92 points, or 1.6 percent, to 7,050.29. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 6.51 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,447.31.

Stocks have plunged since early October, breaking a long period of relative calm over the summer, and trading has been especially volatile the last few days.

Among industrials, Boeing sank 6.6 percent to $335.59. Some early gains for tech and internet stocks also faded. Microsoft shed 2.9 percent to $103.85. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, lost 4.5 percent to $1,034.73.

The prospect of reduced barriers to trade helped auto makers on Monday. Car companies rose after Bloomberg News reported regulators in China intend to propose cutting the tax on imported cars to 5 percent from 10 percent.

Germany’s DAX rose 1.2 percent as Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW made big gains. Italy’s FTSE MIB index rose 1.9 percent after Standard & Poor’s did not downgrade the company’s credit rating. Italy’s new government plans to ramp up spending and European Union leaders have demanded it change its plans.

The CAC 40 in France added 0.4 percent and the British FTSE 100 rose 1.3 percent.

Brazil’s Bovespa rose in morning trading after far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro was elected president, but it later turned lower and lost 2.2 percent.

Bond prices dipped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.08 percent from 3.07 percent.

The price of U.S. crude oil dropped 0.8 percent to $67.04 per barrel in New York while Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 0.4 percent to $77.34 per barrel in London.

Wholesale gasoline added 0.5 percent to $1.82 a gallon and heating oil slid 0.8 percent to $2.28 a gallon. Natural gas was unchanged at $3.19 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold lost 0.7 percent to $1,227.60 an ounce. Silver fell 1.8 percent to $14.44 an ounce. Copper was little changed at $2.74 a pound.

The dollar rose to 112.35 yen from 111.85 yen. The euro fell to $1.1390 from $1.1412.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 sank 0.2 percent and Seoul’s Kospi lost 1.5 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.4 percent.