Major US stock indexes finished trading in the red

Major US stock indexes have fallen markedly, as investors sold off shares of technological, industrial and energy companies, fearing that the growing trade war between the United States and China will have a negative impact on the global economy.

Beijing said that Washington needs to correct its “wrong actions” so that trade negotiations continue after the United States blacklisted Huawei Technology Co Ltd last week.

Although the Trump administration decided to temporarily relax the restrictions imposed on the Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer, tensions rose again after Wednesday’s news that the United States was considering imposing sanctions on Chinese developer and manufacturer of video surveillance systems Hikvision.

Investors worry that the duties imposed on each other and other restrictions of the two largest economies in the world will inhibit global growth, especially in the rapidly developing technology sector.

In addition, the trade war affected the American economy, which caused investors to buy treasury bonds (the basic yield of 10-year US Treasury bonds fell to its lowest level since December 7, 2017).

The US statistics was also in focus. According to preliminary data from the IHS Markit, growth in manufacturing activity in the US slowed down in May and reached about a 10-year low, and new orders fell for the first time since August 2009. The index of business activity in the US manufacturing sector fell in May to 50.6 from 52.6 in April, marking the lowest level since September 2009. Economists had forecast a slight decline to 52.5.

It is also worth noting that the data on sales of new housing in the United States showed a greater decline than expected in April. According to a report by the Ministry of Commerce, sales of new homes fell by 6.9% to an annual level of 673,000, after rising by 8.1% in March, to a revised upward index of 723,000. Economists had expected sales of new homes to fall by about 2.5% to 675,000 from 692,000 that were originally reported in the previous month.

Almost all DOW components are in the red (26 out of 30). Outsider were United Technologies Corp. (UTX; -3.61%). The growth leader were the shares of The Home Depot (HD; + 1.81%).

Almost all sectors of the S & P finished trading in the red. The largest decline was in the raw materials sector (-2.5%). Only the utility sector grew (+ 0.3%).

At the time of closing:

Dow 25,490.47  -286.14 -1.11%

S & P 500 2,822.24 -34.03 -1.19%

Nasdaq 100 7,628.28 -122.56 -1.58%