For much of today U.S. stocks were locked in a slightly negative range as investors and traders vacillated from fears that the Trump administration would impose a new set of tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods and the hope that Chinese leader Xi Jinping would accept the administration’s invitation to resume trade talks. Hopes for that weren’t high as domestic Chinese opinion seemed to be solidifying behind a “Don’t let the U.S. push China around” position.
And then President Donald Trump told reporters that he would have an announcement on Chinese tariffs after the market close today.
What had been mildly negative numbers turned decidedly more negative., The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index, which had been down 0.27% at noon New York time closed down 0.56% for the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved down from a loss of 0.04% at noon to close down 0.35%. The NASDAQ Composite had been down 0.89% but finished off 1.43%. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) moved from off 0.61% to down 0.86% at the close.
The CBEO S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) had  been up a modest 5.12% to 12.76 at noon as fear did set the tone for the market. It finished the day at 13.58, up 12.51%, as fear climbed and more traders bought hedges near the close.
The general worry about the possibility of a wider U.S.-China trade war that would slow the global economy kept oil prices in the red for the day. West Texas Intermediate Crude fell 0.20%. International benchmark Brent crude slipped 0.04%.
Despite news stories reporting that many/most Apple products produced in China would avoid any new U.S. tariffs, Apple (AAPL) shares fell 2.66% on the day.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was down 0.45% as the U.S. dollar weakened against the yen, the euro and the pound.
