Fear that the Trump administration will announce tariffs on all remaining imports from China helped knock U.S. stocks from a strong early gain to another sharp loss Monday.
Technology companies sank again after Bloomberg News reported that the U.S. is planning new tariffs if the two sides don’t make progress in trade talks next month.
Technology and internet companies, industrials and retailers took steep losses 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.
Bloomberg News reported 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.
So far the U.S. has so far placed $250 billion in taxes on imported Chinese goods, about half of all imports from China, and the taxes on most of those goods are set to rise on Jan. 1. The administration has threatened tariffs on the rest. China hiked tariffs on $110 billion in imports from the U.S.
The S&P 500 index fell 17.44 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,641.25.