Major US equity indices opened deep in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average tracking a fifth straight session of losses amid escalating US-China trade tensions.
The trade fights between the US and China heated up after the US President Donald Trump announced tariffs of 25% on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports. Beijing retaliated by slapping duties on high-value American export products and suspended all previous trade agreements with Trump's administration, putting the two powers a step closer to a full-blown trade war.
After several rounds of negotiations failed to resolve US complaints about Chinese industrial policy, escalating trade spat between the world's two largest economies was now seen as leading to a possible slowdown in global trade and eventually weighed on investors' sentiment.
During the opening hour of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped over 220-points to 24,870 and the broader S&P 500 Index retreated nearly 17-points to 2,763. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gave up around 45-points and has now moved on the verge of breaking below 7,700 round figure mark.
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