Dow dives 400 points, on track for lowest close in over 7 months
- Stocks extended sharp declines Monday.
- The S&P 500 shed 4.6% last week, the most since March.
- Watch the major US indexes trade in real time here.
Stocks fell Monday as global trade fears mounted, extending sharp declines following their worst week in nine months.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6%, or about 400 points, and was on track for its lowest close since May 3. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.6%, and the S&P 500, which on Friday recorded its biggest weekly drop since March, slid 1.3%. Stocks are now down more than 1.5% this year.
Apple shares dropped more than 2% after Qualcomm said a Chinese court had ordered the company to stop selling several iPhones in China, citing patent violations.
The S&P 500's energy sector plunged more than 3% as oil reversed sharp gains it had notched last week when OPEC and other major producers agreed to cut production levels. West Texas Intermediate and Brent dropped nearly 2% to around $51.50 and $61, respectively. Bank and healthcare stocks were also lower.
Political tension in the UK weighed on financial markets across the Atlantic, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 down 1.8% and the FTSE 100 lower by 0.8%. Prime Minister Theresa May abruptly delayed a parliamentary vote on a Brexit bill scheduled for Tuesday, casting further uncertainty on her plan to leave the European Union.
Investors were also concerned the arrest of Huawei Technologies CFO Meng Wanzhou could undermine trade negotiations between the US and China, according to UBS strategist Vincent Heaney.
Optimism toward a trade truce between the largest economies reached earlier this month has already been waning. On Sunday, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that March 1 is a "hard deadline" for a deal. He also reiterated tariffs would be increased if one wasn't reached.
"For now, we expect that recent choppiness in the markets will continue until some material progress is made in the trade dispute with China," said John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer Asset Management.
Markets in Asia stumbled following a series of weaker-than-expected economic data out over the weekend. Japan's economy, the third largest in the world, grew at a slower pace than initially thought in the third quarter, revised downward to contract the most since 2014. In China, data showed exports weakened sharply in November.
Elsewhere, the dollar climbed against a basket of peers. Treasury yields were mostly unchanged.