U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as investors reacted to disappointing economic data and U.S. President Donald Trump's new tariff threats.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.14 percent to close at 44,111.74. The Standard and Poor's 500 lost 0.49 percent, ending at 6,299.19, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.65 percent to 20,916.55.
Weakness was widespread across sectors, with seven of the 11 Standard and Poor's 500 sectors finishing in the red. Utilities and technology led the decline, falling 1.05 percent and 0.91 percent, respectively, while materials and consumer discretionary were the top gainers, rising 0.80 percent and 0.29 percent.
Economic concerns mounted after the Institute for Supply Management reported its services purchasing managers' index slipped to 50.1 in July, barely above the level indicating expansion and down from 50.8 in June. Economists had expected an increase to 51.5. New orders slowed, export orders contracted again, and the employment measure within the survey dropped to 46.4, its lowest reading since March.
Adding to the pressure, Trump told CNBC on Tuesday that new tariffs targeting semiconductors and pharmaceuticals would be introduced soon.
Mega-cap tech stocks, which rallied on Monday, gave up ground Tuesday. Nvidia fell around 1 percent, Meta and Broadcom declined more than 1.6 percent. Microsoft dropped about 1.5 percent, while Apple, Alphabet and Tesla posted smaller losses. Amazon bucked the trend, rising 0.99 percent and snapping a two-day losing streak.
Investors now turn their attention to the ongoing earnings season, with AMD and Rivian set to report results Tuesday evening, followed by McDonald's and Disney on Wednesday.
U.S. stocks close lower on weak economic data, tariff concerns
U.S. stocks close lower on weak economic data, tariff concerns
U.S. stocks close lower on weak economic data, tariff concerns
China's development has never been a "threat" to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.
Some Western media and think tanks are peddling so-called "China Shock 2.0," saying that "China is achieving fast development in high-tech sectors such as renewable energy and AI and relies on foreign markets to absorb its overcapacity, thus reducing the market share of developed countries and sending more serious shock waves to the global economy compared with the era of traditional manufacture industry," while there are foreign commentators saying that the "China Shock 2.0" argument ignores the genuine innovation occurring within the Chinese industrial ecosystem and that Chinese export is the exact booster of the global economy that is needed in the turbulent period and more indispensable than ever.
Commenting on that, Lin said: "From the world's factory to the world's market and innovation powerhouse, China's development is achieved through strong performance driven by innovation and brings tangible cooperation opportunities and space to the world. High-quality Chinese products represented by the 'old three' of textiles, furniture and home appliances have stabilized the global industrial and supply chain, lowered the living cost of global consumers and eased the inflationary pressure worldwide. China's green production capacity represented by the 'new three' of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has bridged the gap between supply and demand in global green development and bolstered the global energy transition and low-carbon development. Moreover, China's high-tech products represented by the 'new new three' of robots, AI and innovative drugs have broken high-tech barriers and monopoly and enabled people in more countries to access affordable new technologies," said the spokesman.
"Openness and cooperation bring about progress and win-win result. China's development has never been a 'threat' to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries. What really creates 'shocks' to the world has never been the innovation of Chinese companies and efficiency of Chinese industrial capacity, but protectionist moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains. China will stay committed to high-standard opening up, defend the multilateral trading system and provide more certainty and new impetus to the world economy with its own steady development," said Lin.
China's development never a threat: FM spokesman
