Stock market news: Dow drops as Trump expects to ramp up China tariffs

Dudley
Devine, right, works with fellow traders on the floor of the New
York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018.
AP Photo/Richard Drew

• Stocks fell after President Donald Trump told the Wall Street
  Journal he expects to increase tariff rates on Chinese
  imports. 
• Concerns about the prospect of slowing economic growth
  and rising rates have pummeled equities in recent
  months.
• 
  Follow the US indices in real
  time here.
  

Stocks fell Tuesday as Wall
Street worried global trade tensions could weigh on growth, a day
after President Donald Trump said he expects protectionist
policies between the largest economies to increase.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average
fell 0.9%, or 225 points. The Nasdaq Composite sank 0.8%, and the
S&P 500 shed 0.6%.

“Markets could remain volatile
ahead of pivotal developments later this week, including minutes
from the Federal Reserve and a meeting between the US and Chinese
presidents,” said Vincent Heaney, a strategist at UBS.

On Monday, Trump

told the Wall Street
Journal

he expects to
move forward with a proposal to more than double the tariff rate
from 10% to 25% on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports in
January. The comment comes ahead of an expected meeting between
the president and China’s Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in
Argentina that begins Friday.

He also said if negotiations
between Washington and Beijing don’t go well, his administration
could place duties on the remainder of shipments from China to
the US. Apple, whose products could be included in that tranche,
slid more than 1.4% to $172.10.

Signs of whether trade tensions
or recent market turbulence could influence the Federal Reserve’s
rate path will be closely watched for in meeting minutes out
Thursday. Tuesday morning, Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida said
it’s

“especially important”

to pay attention to new economic
data as monetary policy approaches a neutral stance.

The


dollar

climbed against
a basket of peers following the comment, and Treasury yields
steadied. Home price gains were the weakest in nearly two years
in September, rising 5.5% compared with 5.7% a year earlier, the
S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index showed
early Tuesday.

Major US shopping days around the
Thanksgiving holiday failed to offer much relief, even to
retailers that brought in a record number of sales this year.
Amazon
sank more than 1% even after the e-commerce giant said the most
products in

its history

were ordered on Black Friday and
Cyber Monday. The
SPDR S&P Retail ETF was down 0.4%.

Oil prices were slightly higher,
with
West Texas Intermediate trading just below $52 per barrel and
Brent
around $61 a barrel. Prices are still deep in a bear market,
having fallen more than a quarter over the past three months.
OPEC and other major producers led by Russia are set to discuss
coordinated production cuts next week.