Trade worries sink US stocks; China pork duty hits Tyson

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are tumbling Monday after China raised import duties on U.S. pork, apples and other products. Tyson Foods is among the biggest losers on Wall Street. Investors are also dumping some of their recent favourites, including retailers like Amazon and technology companies such as Microsoft.

Health insurer Humana is jumping on continued reports Walmart might buy the company or announce a new partnership with it.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index skidded 58 points, or 2.2 per cent, to 2,582 as of 11:38 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 442 points, or 1.8 per cent, to 23,660. The Nasdaq composite slumped 190 points, or 2.7 per cent, to 6,872. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 30 points, or 2 per cent, to 1,498.

U.S. markets were closed Friday for the Good Friday holiday. Before that, the S&P 500 rose 2 per cent last week in choppy trading. The benchmark index lost 1.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 following nine straight quarters of gains.

TRADE FEARS: China raised import duties on a $3 billion list of U.S. goods in response to a new U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Meat producer Tyson Foods slumped $4.02, or 5.5 per cent, to $69.17 while Hormel lost 70 cents, or 2.1 per cent, to $33.62.

A bigger dispute looms over Trump’s approval of possible higher duties on Chinese goods. Investors are worried that increasing tensions over trade could slow down global commerce and hurt corporate profits. China’s latest step is just one point of contention between China and Washington, Europe and Japan over a state-led economic model they complain hampers market access, protects Chinese companies and subsidizes exports in violation of Beijing’s free-trade commitments. Meanwhile the U.S., Canada and Mexico continue to hold talks about potential changes to NAFTA.

The price of gold climbed 1.1 per cent to$1,341.70 an ounce and silver jumped 2.1 per cent to $16.61 an ounce as some investors took money out of stocks and looked for safer investments.

WALMART GOES SHOPPING? Health insurer Humana rose following continued reports Walmart could buy the company or create a new partnership with it. The Wall Street Journal reported on the possible deal last week. Humana is a major provider of Medicare Advantage coverage for people age 65 and older. Humana gained $13.08, or 5.2 per cent, to $282.73 and Walmart slid $2.86, or 3.2 per cent, to $86.11.

Walmart has declined to comment on what would be just the latest major deal in health care: drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager CVS agreed to buy health insurer Aetna for $69 billion, while another insurer, Cigna, agreed to pay $52 billion for pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts this month.

TESLA SLOWS: Tesla stock declined after the electric car maker said Friday that the vehicle in a fatal crash last week in California was operating on Autopilot mode, making it the latest accident to involve a semi-autonomous vehicle. The company said the driver did not have his hands on the steering wheel for six seconds before the crash and did not act to prevent the car from hitting a concrete lane divider. Earlier this month, a self-driving Volvo SUV being tested by ride-hailing service Uber struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it is “unhappy” Tesla released information about the crash while the NTSB is continues its own investigation.

Tesla fell $16.11, or 6.1 per cent, to $250.02. Nvidia, a chipmaker that reportedly stopped its own work on products for semi-autonomous cars after the recent incidents, lost $7.31, or 3.2 per cent, to $224.28.

PRIME TARGET: Amazon fell another $6922, or 4.8 per cent, to $1,378.12. After peaking at almost $1,600 a share last month, Amazon has slumped recently as investors took a more cautious approach to stocks. The online retailer was also repeatedly criticized by President Donald Trump last week over its shipping deals with the U.S. Postal Service. The White House doesn’t appear to be pursuing specific policies that would harm Amazon’s business, and much of Trump’s criticism has come after unfavourable reporting in The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos but is a separate company from Amazon.

Despite its recent losses, Amazon stock is still up about 18 per cent in 2018. It wasn’t the only market favourite to fall out of favour Monday. Microsoft dropped $2.15, or 2.4 per cent, to $89.12 and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, shed $29.76, or 2.9 per cent, to $1,007.38. Boeing slid $5.30, or 1.6 per cent, to $322.58.

BONDS: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.74 per cent from 2.74 per cent after a sharp decline last week.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost $1.83, or 2.8 per cent, to $63.12 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slid $1.13, or 1.6 per cent, to $68.21 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar declined to 106.08 yen from 106.50 yen. The euro dipped to $1.2304 from $1.2306.

OVERSEAS: Trading in France, Germany and Britain was closed for Easter. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.3 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi fell almost 0.1 per cent. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was closed as well.

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AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/marley%20jay