Wall Street stocks ended lower on Friday, capping a day of heavy trading with investors mostly pulling back from initial concerns over an escalating trade dispute between the United States and China.
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Wall Street stocks ended lower on Friday, capping a day of heavy trading with investors mostly pulling back from initial concerns over an escalating trade dispute between the United States and China.
U. S. President Donald Trump unveiled an initial list of strategically important goods that would be subject to a 25 percent tariff effective July 6, a move China’s Commerce Ministry called “a threat to China’s economic interest and security.”
China issued its own list of U. S. imports subject to tariffs, targeting soybeans, aircraft, autos and chemicals.
Since early May, the two countries have held several rounds of talks but have yet to reach a deal, as the United States pressures China to narrow a $375 billion trade deficit.
“A lot of people may have over-reacted at the very beginning of the day,” said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York.
“I don’t think a trade war is going to be inevitable,” Pavlik said. “I think (the president is) posturing, I think he’s chest-pounding, I think he’s doing exactly what he thinks he got elected to do.”
Friday also marked “quadruple witching day,” the quarterly simultaneous expiration of U.
