Stocks - Wall Street Falls on Trade Uncertainty, U.S.-Iranian Tensions
Investing.com - Wall Street edged lower on Tuesday on ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran and signs that a U.S.-Sino trade deal is not likely to be signed soon.
The S&P 500 inched down 5 points, or 0.2%, by 9:59 AM ET (13:59 GMT). The Dow fell 51 points, or 0.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slumped 21 points, or 0.3%.
President Donald Trump is “comfortable with any outcome” when he meets with China President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit this weekend, a senior U.S. official said.
Investor sentiment was dampened after his comments, as it is unlikely that a trade deal will be reached this weekend.
"It is unlikely that any resolution of the trade situation will take place until after the next Fed meeting late next month," said Robert Johnson, chief executive officer at Economic Index Associates in New York.
Meanwhile, tensions with Iran continued after the White House targeted sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials and cut off access to financial resources.
The sanctions close the door to negotiations between the two countries, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
Semiconductor company Micron (NASDAQ:MU) rose 1%, while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) inched up 0.2% and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) gained 1%. Grubhub (NYSE:GRUB) was up 5% after it was upgraded to a buy at Citi.
Allergan (NYSE:AGN) surged 27.6% on news that AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) agreed to buy the Botox-maker for about $63 billion. AbbVie, on the other hadn, tumbled nearly 15%.
Elsewhere, FedEx (NYSE:FDX) extended its losses, falling 2% on Monday’s announced lawsuit against the U.S. Commerce Department over the White House ban on exports to some Chinese companies. The company reports earnings after the bell today.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell 1.1%, while Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) slipped 1.2% and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) declined 1.5%.
In commodities, crude rose 0.4% to $58.12 a barrel. Gold futures jumped 1.2% to an almost five-year high of $1,435.25 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat at 95.495.
-- Reuters contributed to this report.
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