NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks retreated early Monday as markets turned their focus back to President Donald Trump’s unresolved efforts to win new accords with trading partners.
After last week’s focus on Congress passing the White House’s spending plan, Trump announced he would send the first tariff letters Monday to various countries that have yet to reach deals with Washington.
The administration has said steep tariffs would take effect on August 1 if there is no agreement.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 percent at 44,733.06.
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The broad-based S&P 500 declined 0.4 percent to 6,253.73, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.6 percent to 20,469.99.
Trump on Monday also threatened a further 10 percent tariff on countries aligning themselves with the emerging BRICS nations, accusing them of “anti-Americanism” after they slammed his tariffs at a summit on Sunday.
“Markets like certainty and this tariff situation increases uncertainty,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments.
Besides tariffs, analysts said the market was primed for a period of weakness after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq shot to fresh records last week.
Among individual companies, Tesla slumped 7.5 percent after Trump blasted CEO Elon Musk’s plan to launch a new political party in opposition to Trump’s fiscal plans.
The back-and-forth escalated a conflict between the two men that investors fear will hurt Musk’s companies.
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