Stocks sink as US-China trade war heats up, Trump threatens action

A trade spat between the U.S. and China erupted Friday, sending U.S. stocks spiraling, with all three of the major averages down over 1% midday and on pace for the worst session since August.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	45556.6	-801.82	-1.73%
SP500	S&P 500	6571.25	-163.86	-2.43%
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	22286.008063	-738.62	-3.21%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off more than 700 points in afternoon trading. Still, all three of the major benchmarks remain near record highs.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

Trump “pissed off” at China

Sources tell FOX Business that President Donald Trump is “pissed off” after a briefing about China’s new announcement of export controls. Now, a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping due to take place in South Korea in two weeks, is likely to be scrapped.

“I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so,” he posted on Truth Social.

TRUMP THREATENS CHINA WITH TARIFF CLAPBACK

Trump also said he will be forced to financially counter the Chinese move. The source said large tariffs could be on the table.

A majority of the large sectors in the S&P fell, led by technology, energy and consumer discretionary, while utilities and consumer staples bucked the selling.

Broad selling hits most S&P sectors

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
XLK	TECHNOLOGY SELECT SECTOR SPDR ETF	279.88	-10.31	-3.55%
XLE	ENERGY SELECT SECTOR SPDR ETF	87.76	-1.21	-1.36%
XLY	CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY SELECT SECTOR SPDR ETF	229.35	-5.85	-2.49%
XLU	UTILITIES SELECT SECTOR SPDR ETF	90.57	-0.23	-0.25%
XLP	CONSUMER STAPLES SELECT SECTOR SPDR ETF	78.25	+0.20	+0.26%

The Magnificent Seven stocks saw hefty declines, led by Amazon, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla.

“This is all a game of high stakes poker going on between the US and China in this AI Revolution as we are also seeing more scrutiny in Beijing around Nvidia’s golden chips,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a research note to clients.

“These moments we view as buying opportunities to own the winners in semis, software, Big Tech, and the AI future as in our view these tensions will not bubble up into a much more tense time vs. the nervous period of time we saw in April.”

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
AMZN	AMAZON.COM INC.	217.51	-10.23	-4.49%
META	META PLATFORMS INC.	709.20	-24.32	-3.31%
NVDA	NVIDIA CORP.	184.96	-7.61	-3.95%
TSLA	TESLA INC.	413.64	-21.89	-5.03%

Investors did use the selloff to snap up more defensive names, including McDonald’s, Coke and Pepsi.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
MCD	MCDONALD’S CORP.	297.59	+3.78	+1.29%
KO	THE COCA-COLA CO.	66.37	+0.25	+0.38%
PEP	PEPSICO INC.	149.94	+5.23	+3.61%

THE ETF REPORT: NEWS & ANALYSIS

Gold and silver hit records

Gold, a flight to safety, climbed above $4,000, hitting a fresh record. The yellow metal has gained about 50% this year and is among the top performing assets classes. Silver also hit a new high of $50 on Thursday and is sitting just below that level as of midday on Friday.

Investors were buying exchange-traded funds that track the precious metals on Friday, including the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest backed by physical gold, and ProShares Ultra Silver.

WEALTHY INVESTORS TAP ETFS FOR THREE HOT ASSETS