(The Closing Bell will be updated sometime after 4:00 PM CDST to include the latest updates from IBD and Bloomberg Evening Briefing.)
FYI: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 400 points and Treasury yields dropped to an 18-month low Thursday after the latest flare-up in U.S.-China trade tensions quelled investors’ expectations of a near-term resolution between the world’s two biggest economies.
Nearly all of the stocks in the blue-chip index fell, from International Business Machine to Johnson & Johnson , after a Chinese official said the U.S. should “adjust its wrong actions” if it would like to continue negotiations, deepening investors’ unease that Washington and Beijing are moving further apart on trade.
The losses pulled the Dow industrials into the red for the week, capping off a dismal stretch for the 30-stock index as it hurtled toward its fifth straight weekly loss—its longest such losing streak since 2011. The Dow has given up 4.7% in May amid the breakdown in trade negotiations, putting it at risk of posting its first monthly decline of the year.
The Dow industrials fell 286 points, or 1.11%, to 25490 in recent trading, while the S&P 500 shed 1.19%. The Nasdaq Composite gave up 1.58%.
Nearly all 11 major S&P 500 sectors were down in recent trading, with the exception of utility and real-estate stocks, which investors tend to favor for their dividends during periods of economic uncertainty.
Shares of Amazon.com , Facebook , Microsoft and Apple all gave up more than 1.5%, as investors worry the trade spat will increasingly pressure U.S. technology companies that have a significant exposure to China.
The S&P 500’s industrial stocks, which are also viewed as bystanders in a U.S.-China trade spat, gave up 2.2%.
Energy companies posted some of the biggest losses. The sector slid 3.7% due to a 5.9% pullback in U.S. crude oil after the trade spat raised doubts about the near-term appetite for the commodity.
Shares of Tesla were among the few companies to gain some ground during Thursday’s trading session. The electric car maker’s stock added 0.4% after reports that it had more than 50,000 in net new orders for the current quarter.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note, meanwhile, fell to 2.348%, according to Tradeweb, putting it on pace to close at its lowest level since late 2017. That pushed the 10-year’s yield, which falls as prices rise, below the yield on the three-month Treasury bill for the first time since May 15—a potential harbinger of further economic tumult.
Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 1.4% as investors contended with a drop in business sentiment in Germany and weaker demand for eurozone exports. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite slipped 1.4%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng traded 1.6% lower and Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.6%.
Regards,
Ted
Bloomberg Evening Briefing:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-23/your-evening-briefingMarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-drop-as-china-trade-spat-continues-to-unsettle-investors-2019-05-23/printWSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-dip-amid-political-trade-tensions-11558599215Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-22/asian-stocks-set-for-decline-amid-trade-tensions-markets-wrap?srnd=premiumIBD:
https://www.investors.com/news/economy/trump-economy-in-peril-dow-jones-dives-china-trade-war/CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/23/stock-market-trade-war-concerns-weigh-on-market-sentiment.htmlReuters:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/wall-street-tumbles-over-1-on-trade-growth-fears-idUSKCN1ST1AZU.K:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-stocks/turmoil-over-future-of-pm-may-brexit-bruises-british-stocks-idUKKCN1ST0QIEurope:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-stocks/cocktail-of-trade-worries-poor-data-brexit-hit-european-shares-idUSKCN1ST0O7Asia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-pull-back-on-fears-of-prolonged-trade-standoff-2019-05-22/printBonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/23/us-bonds-treasury-yields-in-focus-amid-economic-data-auctions.htmlCurrencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/23/forex-market-brexit-us-china-trade-war-in-focus.htmlOil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/23/gold-market-us-china-trade-war-brexit-in-focus.htmlGold
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/23/gold-market-us-china-trade-war-brexit-in-focus.htmlWSJ: Markets At A Glance:
https://markets.wsj.com/usMajor ETFs % Change:
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/etf-monitorSPDR's Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-trackerSPDR's Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectorsCurrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx 
